Gamble Street Italianate Row (late 1870s)

This set of Italianate style row houses from the late 1870s in the Jeff Vanderlou neighborhood are remnants of what was once among the most densely populated areas in St. Louis. The area began to experience urban development in around 1860, as Carr Square to the east began to fill up. Jeff Vanderlou was mostly filled with Italianate Row houses, and by 1880, the are had been completely built up, particularly in the area south of Cass Avenue. Factories and shops filled the neighborhood and gave many of those living in the Row houses a place to work nearby, one of which was the Coca Cola bottling facility on Garrison Ave. However, by 1940, the neighborhood had begun a long period of decline, and it was redlined, along with the Mill Creek Valley, which stood directly south. Both neighborhoods had a significant African American population, but unlike Mill Creek, this area avoided urban renewal, except in a few portions of the neighborhood. After years of decline, this area is still struggling today, although despite many years of disinvestment, a surprising number of buildings remain intact, and much of the urban streetscape of the area between MLK and Cass has survived.