Having looked at the history and read about Glasgow Village in the paper, and realizing I hadn’t actually visited in a long time and only cursorily, I set out early on Saturday to take a look. I went up Riverview Drive and entered the area via Spring Garden Drive and drove around the southern portion first.
Honestly, the southern portion is doing really well, and looks nice. I thought, I must be missing something: where are the 600 out of 1700 houses that need to be demolished? I headed up to the former commercial district where there are some apartment buildings, and found some of them were indeed vacant and bombed out.
And heading into the northern “peninsula”, which stretches and hugs the northern “tail” of the City of St. Louis, I started to see the more abandoned portion of the neighborhood.
There are still so many nice houses, but they are increasingly interspersed with abandoned houses, and lawns that are two feet tall.
The streets over into St. Louis are blocked off, a common feature all along the northern boundary of the City and County, and it leads to just even more of a sense of isolation.
But the shot below could easily be in Affton or Mehlville.
But sadly, guess what business is the one remaining? A liquor store, of course.
I don’t know what the future of Glasgow Village is, but it is clear that political leaders are short on solutions and are failing the good people who are sticking it out (or are stuck) in the neighborhood.
My parents bought a home in Glasgow in 1957,I was born in ‘58. It was a world in itself. I believe I was one of many that have a whole lot of memories both good and bad but we were raised by a village and most people knew you and your parents so we watched out for each other. I feel I was blessed to have been raised in this almost mythical place
I loved growing up in Glasgow. I went to St. Pius X until it was shut down at the end of my third-grade year…constantly walked the woods from the Grampian field over to the QT and the playground over there by the train tracks, Glashop with its video store, Cusomanos, the corner store, the little convenience mart and sandwich shop…it really was a slice of life not really seen anymore except on TV. Neighbors cared about each other and kids were fine being out untethered…until the street lights came on that is. Lol. I miss those days. We didn’t even leave as our neighbors fled until it became a safety issue for my mother and myself in 2000. I really miss how Glasgow used to make me feel. 🙂
My father grew up on Prestwick. He said there were 80 kids on that block when he was a kid. Their next door neighbor had ten of them. I was born in 1972 and my grandmother wouldn’t let me go very far from the house without one of my uncles or aunt around. I was around 7 or 8 years old. She warned me that someone could knock you off your bike and run off with it. Prestwick had about 20 kids and I would hang out with them when I stayed with my grandparents on the weekends. I still see some of them on Facebook. My nine year old son listens, fascinated at what life was like back then as I tell him all about what we don’t see anymore. My son has never seen a paperboy deliver the news to our front door , but one did on Prestwick. My grandfather bought one every night. Trash men clung to garbage trucks and manually emptied cans into the back of them and jumped back on for the next one. The mail man delivered letters on foot and I still remember the hard shell, wide brimmed, white hats, and long socks they wore on those sweltering, humid summer days. My grandfather would pick me up from my babysitter and take me to the drugstore for a candy treat for me and adult beverages for him and his mother. My great grandmother lived in the apartments across from the glashop. She was in her 80’s then and had a very thick Irish accent. It was a transitional time for Glasgow as the boomers born to the greatest generation left the neighborhood to conquer the world and buy a home that at least had a garage. My boomer father would take me to the donut shop for breakfast before he dropped me off at school . We lived in an apartment in Blackjack at the time and he drove me to St. Pius X every day. My babysitter would pick me up from school and take me to her house across island on Lilac drive. I’m still friends with her neighbor’s kids. I never lived in Glasgow Village but I could go on and on about my experiences there.
Thanks everyone, for the Glasgow Village memories!
My family moved to 10364 Durness Drive when I was 3 or 4 and lived there until I was 16. It was filled with young families, just like ours – building their first home in a safe and growing area. My 5 brothers and I loved playing in the woods behind Glasgow Village Elementary and ice skating on the creek. . We went to St Catherine of Alexandria. Parents didn’t walk their kids to school or set”play dates”. The kids made their own. We went out to play and ride our bikes, and came home when we got hungry or heard our moms calling us. It was a different time, and in so many ways, a better time.