The Ville is a historic
African-American neighborhood
African-American neighborhoods or black neighborhoods are types of ethnic enclaves found in many cities in the United States. Generally, an African American neighborhood is one where the majority of the people who live there are African American ...
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 Drive on the south, Sarah on the east and Taylor on the west.
Prior to the United States Civil Rights Movement, the use of
restrictive covenants and other legal restrictions prevented African Americans from finding housing in many areas of the city. As a result, the African-American population of St. Louis was concentrated in and around the Ville. The neighborhood was the site of a number of important cultural institutions for the Black community, including
Sumner High School, the first high school for Black students west of the Mississippi River; and
Homer G. Phillips Hospital, established in 1937 as one of the few Black
teaching hospitals
A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-locate ...
in the United States and the only one in the city to serve Black people.
The
Antioch Baptist Church on Market St., whose red brick Gothic-style building was constructed in 1921 and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
, was an important cultural center of the black community during Segregation and beyond.
The history of the neighborhood was reviewed and its surviving historic resources were assessed in a 1998 study,
and its extension in 2010.
As of the 2010 Census, there are 1,868 people living in The Ville and 6,189 people in the surrounding
Greater Ville neighborhood.
Education
* Cote Brilliante Elementary School (closed)
* De La Salle Middle School at St. Matthew's
* Annie Malone's Emerson Therapeutic Academy (located in De La Salle Middle)
* Marshall School
* Simmons Elementary School
* Sumner High School
* Turner Middle School
* Williams Middle Community Education Center
Notable natives
*
Arthur Ashe
Arthur Robert Ashe Jr. (July 10, 1943 – February 6, 1993) was an American professional tennis player who won three Grand Slam singles titles. He started to play tennis at six years old. He was the first black player selected to the Un ...
*
Josephine Baker
Josephine Baker (born Freda Josephine McDonald; naturalised French Joséphine Baker; 3 June 1906 – 12 April 1975) was an American-born French dancer, singer and actress. Her career was centered primarily in Europe, mostly in her adopted Fran ...
*
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...
*
Grace Bumbry
Grace Melzia Bumbry (born January 4, 1937), an American opera singer, is considered one of the leading mezzo-sopranos of her generation, as well as a major soprano earlier in her career. She is a member of a pioneering generation of African-Ameri ...
*
John Collins-Muhammad
John Collins-Muhammad, Jr. (born 1991), is an American activist and politician from the state of Missouri. He served on the Board of Alderman of the City of St. Louis representing the 21st Ward where he represented portions of North City. Co ...
*
Julia Davis
Julia Charlotte L. Davis (born 25 August 1966) is an English actress, comedian, director and writer. She is known for writing and starring in the BBC Three comedy '' Nighty Night'' (2004–2005) and the comedies ''Hunderby'' (2012–2015) and ...
*
Herman Dreer
Herman H. Dreer (1888–1981) was an American academic administrator, educator, educational reformer, activist, author, editor, Baptist minister, and civil rights leader. He is best known for writing curriculum and programming for teaching African ...
*
Dick Gregory
Richard Claxton Gregory (October 12, 1932 – August 19, 2017) was an American comedian, civil rights leader, business owner and entrepreneur, and vegetarian activist. His writings were best sellers. Gregory became popular among the Afric ...
*
Sonny Liston
Charles L. "Sonny" Liston ( 1930 – December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the world heavyweight champion in 1962 after knocking out Floyd Patterson ...
*
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price Jr. (May 27, 1911 – October 25, 1993) was an American actor, art historian, art collector and gourmet cook. He appeared on stage, television, and radio, and in more than 100 films. Price has two stars on the Hollywood Wal ...
*
Maxine Waters
Maxine Moore Waters (née Carr; born August 15, 1938) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for since 1991. The district, numbered as the 29th district from 1991 to 1993 and as the 35th district from 1993 to 2013, inc ...
Demographics
In 2020 The Ville's racial makeup was 95.9% Black, 1.7% White, 0.3% American Indian, 1.8% Two or More Races, and 0.4% Some Other Race. 0.3% of the people were of Hispanic or Latino origin.
See also
*
Peabody–Darst–Webbe, St. Louis neighborhood of another city hospital
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ville, The, St. Louis
Neighborhoods in St. Louis
History of racial segregation in the United States