Defining the Project

Reading Housing Conditions in St. Louis (Civic League of St. Louis, 1908) one cannot escape being disturbed by the conditions in which the residents lived. This was the point of the report and work was done to make improvements afterwards. Though one mighty question the amount of work. Decades later the infamous Pruitt-Igoe housing project would be built in the area. 

Most of my paternal great grandparents grew up in this neighborhood so I have a personal interest. I’ve developed a desire to research the neighborhood of my ancestors - identify the residents and research their descendants. This strays a little from what I’ve seen described as a One Place Study. Most One Place Studies seem to focus on one neighborhood across time. I’m interested in starting in the neighborhood at one specific time and researching what happened to the families - most of whom likely left the neighborhood as soon as they were able. 

Though while I intend to research the descendants, I’m not likely to write entries about most of them - unless I come across some notable individuals. My focus for entries will be the residents at the Turn of the Century and their lives as I can find in newspaper articles and elsewhere. 

At this point I have started with a handful of residents who lived in the same tenement on North Eighth Street as a second great grandfather. The database has about 275 people in it and I’m close to moving “next door.”

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