The Ville

This page gives you a bit about an important neighborhood, The Ville. The Ville is located in North St. Louis City, not too far from Old North St. Louis. It is famous for being where Sumner High School is located. Sumner was founded in 1876 as the first and oldest African American high school west of the Mississippi River.

The page has a collection of resources, some from the author of the website, links to other information about the The Ville, and some articles about the controversies that have been in the news about outside developers in the Ville. The 4TheVille is a nonprofit dedicated to preserving, celebrating, and telling the story of the Ville. Please see below to link to their website. They give tours to people who would like to learn more about the Ville and you can contact them using the website below.

Summary by Sarah Miller and Maddie Sullivan

Articles, Links, and Videos Below:

The Ville & The Power of Place.mp4

The 4theVille Website

A blog is not perfect by any means but she does feature photos and some pieces of its history: http://www.stlouiscitytalk.com/posts/2010/02/ville-neighborhood. I also really liked the comments from people who grew up in the Ville - those are really neat to read. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and you shall find those.

This is a short video featuring some video footage of The Ville neighborhood, Sumner High School, and some commentary about the importance of the neighborhood from a sociological standpoint.

The Ville History:

An Entire History of the Ville with Links!

The Ville (St. Louis, MO) •The Ville is a residential and business district remembered as the cultural center of the African American community in St. Louis, Missouri. The Ville, located just northwest of downtown St. Louis, was open to African Americans during a time that much of the city was … Read MoreThe Ville (St. Louis, MO)

The Ville Neighborhood MapThe Ville general boundaries are defined as St. Louis Ave. on the North, southward to N. Sarah St. on the East, westward to Dr. Martin Luther King Drive on the South, northward to N. Taylor Ave. on the West, to St. Louis Ave.

The forgotten schools that hold an answer key to today’s St. LouisFew of us know the revealing history of our 19th-century African-American high schools.

tteoaccurricguide.pdf

This above is a collection of primary sources that talk about life growing up in The Ville.

Online Collections | Missouri Historical SocietySearch the Missouri Historical Society Collections online.

Homer G. Phillips Hospital: ‘They were not going to be treated as second-class citizens’In the first half of the 20th century, segregation touched virtually every part of American life. Black residents of St. Louis weren't just barred from

The Greater Ville Neighborhood OverviewInformation concerning the neighborhood history, characteristics, institutions and organizations, planning and development.

More current news stories:

zoom_0.mp4

Zoom with Mr. Williams and Mrs. Julia Allen of 4TheVille

The Unselfish Bus Driver | Missouri Historical SocietyIn honoring a person for “meritorious and unselfish service to their community,” it would be hard to imagine a more deserving candidate than George Owens.

Dollhouses of St. Louis - 99% InvisibleBack in the 1950s, St. Louis was segregated and The Ville was one of the only African-American neighborhoods in the city. The community was prosperous. Black-owned businesses thrived and the neighborhood was filled with the lovely, ornate brick homes the city has become famous for. Samuel Moore, who became a local alderman in 2007, grew

St. Louis severs ties with controversial developer Paul McKeeThe City of St. Louis is severing ties to controversial developer Paul McKee. Tuesday, officials sent a letter to McKee in a move analogous to a divorce filing, after city

Brick by Chance and Fortune

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