Benton Park Forever

Where We Live

"When our two daughters were just tiny, they loved walking over to the Anheuser-Busch stables to play fetch with the Dalmatians," Benton Park resident Tim Mulligan remembers. The brewery looms across I-55 from their home.
Gale Ormiston.
Gale Ormiston appreciates the friendly neighbors he has encountered in Benton Park. (People Productions photo by Clark Rowley)

"Now their school soccer team practices just down the street in Cherokee Park, so we end up with 10 or 15 people here after a practice," he comments. "It's a riot." Tim and wife Patti Eischen and daughters Emily and Claire live on Lemp Street. He purchased his home in 1985.

Libby Reuter, who moved into her Benton Park home in 1980 with her two children, ages 11 and 12, recalls the time she and daughter Hannah decided to move a mirror over the fireplace. "It was in July of 1998. After we moved the mirror, we found the numbers 11/17/98 penciled on the back of the frame. We realized the mirror had been placed there over a century ago," she explains. "We have encountered other interesting surprises," she recalls, "such as finding a four inch brass key in the ceiling. It had fallen through a crack between the floorboards upstairs, apparently many years ago. We discovered it when we took the ceiling down," she relates.

"Some of our fondest memories are of friends and neighbors around the table," notes Charlie Dahlheimer. He and wife Linda, who love to entertain, and son Michael moved into their Illinois Street home in l987.

"We had been living in the suburbs in Fairfax County, VA, and we wanted to expose our son to a more diverse, interesting neighborhood," Charlie says. Son Michael was 7 when they moved to Benton Park.

Charlie mentions that "he took quite well to the neighborhood, as well as to the various rehab projects we undertook on our home." Michael graduated from the School of Engineering, Washington University in 2002 and is now a systems analyst with SBC.
Libby Reuter.
Libby Reuter admires the robust architectural personalities of the homes and store fronts in her neighborhood (People Productions photo by Clark Rowley)

Jeanette Mott Oxford, a community activist, moved to Benton Park to be closer to Epiphany United Church of Christ, located on McNair. Originally from rural Illinois, Jeanette is attracted to and interested in the mixing of people and the diverse social activities encouraged within the framework created by the church. "My favorite thing about the community is seeing how people show they care for each other," she remarks.

It is such nuances that produce enjoyment and fond memories of where we live. This is certainly the case in this St. Louis neighborhood. Benton Park, bruised but now resolutely emerging from hard urban times, is building on its considerable assets.

Declared a Federal Historic District in 1985, the neighborhood presents a bold statement of its heritage in the form of its architecture. Offered is a range of buildings from Victorian mansions to small, single-family structures, townhouses, multi-family dwellings and commercial buildings. They boast the rich detailing, sturdiness and flair of Nineteenth Century construction. The real estate market includes a selection of shells and inhabitable but unrestored buildings to partially renovated structures to finished homes, typical of an evolving urban residential environment.

But the assets are more than skin deep. Intangible elements provide the personality and the energy for the growth of Benton Park as a contributing St. Louis neighborhood. The objective of this site is to explore those factors which have in the past and will continue to breathe life into the neighborhood.

Click HERE to send e-mail to Christopher Rowley, the Web master.
Click HERE to send e-mail to Benton Park Neighborhood Association.

Aldermen | Census of 2000 Demographics | Historical Background | Benton Park Neighborhood Association | Other St. Louis Neighborhoods