Marine Villa Neighborhood Overview

Location

The Marine Villa neighborhood is located just south of the world famous Anheuser-Busch Brewery along the awesome bluffs of the Mississippi River running on the Southeast. It is further defined by Cherokee Street's Antique Row on the North, Gasconade Street on the South, South Broadway and Jefferson Avenue on the West, and the Mississippi River on the East.

History

The name and boundaries of this tiny enclave came into existence in 1968, the name evidently chosen as a tribute to the large number of rivermen that once had their own community in the area. The old Marine Hospital, one of several hospitals authorized by an act of Congress in 1837 for the treatment of sick and disabled rivermen, was located at Marine and Winnebago Street, a site currently occupied by the National Record of Archives. At Winnebago and Jefferson can be found the Concordia Publishing House, founded in 1869 as part of the Concordia Seminary, now located in Clayton. The publisher remains one of the nation's leading producers of religious texts.

Marine Villa also lies within what was originally the southern end of the St. Louis Commons, French-owned Indian reservation land whose sale was authorized in 1836. The Lemp family mansion, now serving as a restaurant, and the hulking shell of a brewery complex offer two glimpses into the community's history as home to the City's largest brewer at the end of the nineteenth century. Developed gradually from the northeast, the north-south streets of Marine Villa were named for states of the Union, while the east-west streets bear names of various Native American tribes. By 1875, housing was fairly dense north of Chippewa Street, while sections to the West and South were rural in character, including farm plots, orchards, and grape arbors.