History
The first homes in the Southampton Neighborhood were built around 1905. The brick "arts and crafts" homes were constructed primarily in the 1930's. Original residents say this type of home took about one year to build. Much of the original tract of land part of the Decker Farm, was developed by the Merchantile Trust Company.
Mr Sihrett, supervised the building of the Subdivision and named it "Southampton" after a town in his native England. Many other streets in Southampton are also named after towns in England: Nottingham, Hampton, Devonshire, Lansdowne, Murdoch, Sutherland, Brannon and Macklind.
Early Southampton residents carried water to their homes from a spring at Nottingham and Kingshighway until a water main was
contructed.
This area was one of several chosen as a possible site for the 1904 World's Fair It was determined to be almost impossible to run adequate transportation facilities to the Southampton area, and Forest Park ended up as the chosen location.
Names in the Neighborhood
- Bancroft
- Named for historian George Bancroft.
- Brannon
- Named for landowners Thomas and Louisa Brannon.
- Buder Library:
- Once located in Susan R. Buder School in the neighborhood it moved to its present location at Hampton and Eichelberger in 1962.
- Christy Park:
- This 32 acre tract of land was purchased by the City in 1910 and is named after Willam Christy, who owned established a clay products in 1857 in the area bounded by Chippewa, and Morganford south and west to beyond Kingshighway and Eichelberger. By the turn of the century the established clay mine had more than five miles of subterranean passageways.
- Delor Street
- Named after the founder of Carondelet, Clement Delor.
- Itaska
- Named after Lake Itasca in Minnesota.
- Kingshighway
- Named for the second oldest railroad in Missouri which ran from St. Louis to New Madrid.
- Murdoch Ave.
- Named after John Murdock, a farmer.
- Neosho:
- Named after the Neosho River in Kansas; An Osage Indian word for clear spring.
- Rhodes
- Named for the British statesman who founded the Rhodes Scholarship program, Cecil John Rhodes.
- Sulphur Street:
- Once had a sulphur spring on it near the intersection of Sulphur and Manchester Road.
- Walsh Street:
- Named for John B. Walsh, the first mayor of Carondolet.
- Wherry Ave.
- Formerly a creek which was paved over; named after Mackey Wherry, a surveyor and engineer.
- Winona
- Named for the daughter of Carl Wimar, the artist who painted the dome in the Old Courthouse.
Some of the historical information above was derived from the book The Streets of St. Louis by William B. and Marcella Magnan.
