Moving one block to the north, to Accomac Street, we see more of a mix of four-families, single families and two families.

If you’ve ever wondered where the name came from, it is a town in Virginia, located out on that little peninsula that is not contiguous with the rest of the state. Originally the name came from a Native American people. Accomack County, with a “k” on the end, is the northern of the two counties that make up the Virginia peninsula. Many of the original English Americans who settled in St. Louis came from Virginia via Kentucky.

But I digress. As we saw over on Armand Place, the area developed quickly and uniformly after being part of the DeVolsey Tract.

While much of the addition is tract housing, there is the occasional one-off house, such as the one below with the reworked cornice.

Looks like someone forgot to finish painting the doors below. Absentee slumlords are a continued problem in St. Louis and rank up in the top three factors in the decline of St. Louis. The longer you look at the building, the more junky you realize it is.

Right next door a four family has been converted into two townhouses. There’s a robust debate going on about this practice. Some feel that it is a perfect way to eliminate the “scourge” of four-families, while others feel it is eliminating affordable rental properties and much needed density in the city which is losing residents by the thousands every year.

Regardless, it has created an interesting phenomenon: while housing values have gone up in many South Side neighborhoods, the population has gone down.

Back in the day (or not too long ago), this block was the territory of the 27-Mac street gang, taking its name from being located on the 2700 block of Accomac.

There are corner stores, but as is common throughout South St. Louis with the proliferation of supermarkets, these spaces have been converted into office spaces or residential.