Delmar Boulevard is a major east-west street in
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...
.
Route description
Delmar Boulevard starts at North 14th Street in
Downtown St. Louis
Downtown St. Louis is the central business district of St. Louis, Missouri, the hub of tourism and entertainment, and the anchor of the St. Louis metropolitan area. The downtown is bounded by Cole Street to the north, the river front to the eas ...
, as a westward extension of Convention Plaza. It passes through the neighborhoods of
Downtown West and
Midtown on its easternmost portions. Just west of Jefferson Avenue, at number 2658, is the
Scott Joplin House State Historic Site.
Delmar is interrupted at Spring Avenue by
Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School
Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School is a private school, private, Roman Catholic high school in St. Louis, Missouri. It is located in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Louis.
Background
Cardinal Ritter Prep opened on September 6, 1979 ...
; the street picks up again at Vandeventer Avenue, two blocks to the west. At Taylor Avenue, Delmar (which has been traveling west-northwest up to this point) assumes a more due westerly course. Between here and Skinker Boulevard, the boulevard passes through the neighborhoods of
Vandeventer,
Lewis Place,
Fountain Park,
Academy
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...
,
Visitation Park,
West End, and
Skinker/DeBaliviere, passing many disused and derelict buildings.
West of the
MetroLink tracks at Rosedale Avenue, Delmar's character changes as the street enters the
Delmar Loop
The Delmar Loop, often referred to by St. Louis residents simply as The Loop, is an entertainment, cultural and restaurant district in University City, Missouri and the adjoining western edge of St. Louis near Washington University in St. Louis an ...
, a neighborhood popular with students of nearby
Washington University in St. Louis
Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...
and known for many eclectic shops and restaurants. The Delmar Loop is home to several area landmarks, such as the
Tivoli Theater and
Blueberry Hill
"Blueberry Hill" is a popular American song published in 1940, best remembered for its 1950s rock and roll version by Fats Domino. The music was written by Vincent Rose, the lyrics by Larry Stock and Al Lewis. It was recorded six times in 1940 ...
. On the Loop, just west of Skinker, Delmar leaves the City of St. Louis and enters the
St. Louis County suburb of
University City. West of Trinity Avenue, Delmar climbs a hill out of the Loop. Beyond this point, Delmar changes to a largely residential character, which it assumes for the rest of its route. After about two miles, Delmar crosses
Interstate 170
Interstate 170 (I-170), also known as the Inner Belt Expressway, is an north–south Interstate Highway in Greater St. Louis, Missouri
Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area ...
, where it has an interchange (Exit 2), before coming to an end at Price Road shortly thereafter.
Delmar is often considered to represent a major
socioeconomic
Socioeconomics (also known as social economics) is the social science that studies how economic activity affects and is shaped by social processes. In general it analyzes how modern societies progress, stagnate, or regress because of their local ...
divide in the city, having come to demarcate the poorer, largely
African American
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
neighborhoods located to the north from the more affluent (and largely white) ones to the south; this phenomenon is called the "
Delmar Divide
The Delmar Divide refers to Delmar Boulevard as a socioeconomic and racial dividing line in St. Louis, Missouri. The term was popularized outside Greater St. Louis by a four-minute documentary from the BBC. Delmar Blvd. is an east–west street ...
".
Transportation
Delmar Boulevard is served by the
Loop Trolley
The Loop Trolley is a , 10-station heritage streetcar line in and near the Delmar Loop area of greater St. Louis, Missouri. It opened for service in 2018, then shut down in 2019 after revenue fell far short of projections. Service resumed in 202 ...
line, which opened in November 2018 and closed in 2019 (it currently lies dormant), and by
Delmar station on
MetroLink, St. Louis' light-rail line connecting
the airport with downtown.
The Hodiamont streetcar ran a few blocks north of Delmar, connecting Hodiamont Avenue with Enright Avenue west of Vandeventer. The old right-of-way still exists as an alley and is marked as "Hodiamont Streetcar R-O-W" or "Suburban Track" on many maps of the area.
History
Delmar was originally known as Morgan Street until 1933.
According to Norbury L. Wayman in his ''circa'' 1980 series ''History of St. Louis Neighborhoods'',
[Norbury L. Wayman: ''History of St. Louis neighborhoods'', St. Louis, Mo., ''circa'' 1980 series, St. Louis Community Development Agency.] the name Delmar was coined when two early landowners living on opposite sides of the road, one from Delaware and one from Maryland, combined the names of their home states. The town of
Delmar, Delaware
Delmar is a town in Sussex County, Delaware, United States, on the Maryland border along the Transpeninsular Line. Its motto is "The Little Town Too Big for One State." The population was 1,597 at the 2010 census, an increase of 13.5% over t ...
, on the border between the two states, derived its name in similar fashion.
In 2009, the portion of Delmar within the city of St. Louis was given the honorary name of
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
Boulevard to honor the newly elected president.
See also
*
JeffVanderLou, St. Louis
JeffVanderLou (JVL) is a neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. The neighborhood is situated between North Vandeventer Avenue on the northwest, Natural Bridge Avenue on the northeast, North Jefferson Avenue on the East, Delmar Boulevard on the sou ...
, a neighborhood north of Delmar that was once considered the city's "Negro district", where African Americans were allowed to own land
*
The Ville, St. Louis
The Ville is a historic African-American neighborhood located in North St. Louis, Missouri. It has had a long history of African-American businesses and residents.
This neighborhood is bounded by St. Louis Avenue on the north, Martin Luther King ...
, the neighborhood where the city's hospital for African Americans was located during segregation
References
{{Streets of Greater St. Louis
Streets in St. Louis
History of racial segregation in the United States