I wish that more people were aware of the North Pointe neighborhood in St. Louis. It is located on the north side of the city, north of Interstate 70. Its borders include the City limits, Goodfellow Boulevard and Riverview Boulevard to the northwest, and West Florissant Avenue to the southwest. Its shape is an irregular pentagon-shaped giant. An almost-arrow-straight set of railroad tracks cuts it in half, north from south. The southern end is Herzog Elementary School, while Nance Elementary School can be found at Halls Ferry Circle. Vivian-Astra Park is a small park created by curving streets running along the southeast edge near Riverview and West Florissant.
North Pointe is a new area for the City of St. Louis. Compton and Dry, both from 1875, show nothing but rolling hills and farms just outside the city’s edge. Real development didn’t begin until the 1920s or ’30s, except for the occasional country home (some magnificent examples are still in existence). The first signs of suburbia began to appear in advertisements and the North Pointe Addition offered modern amenities. Friday, May 20, 1921, in the St. The Beck Realty Development Company announced the sale of lots within the subdivision to the St. Louis Star and Times. They boasted that the price included “Water, Lights and Sewers, Sidewalks and Streets Graded All.”
Potential buyers were assured that the development would be in the City and they would have fire and police protection. This was not the case in nearby St. Louis County at the time. They also gave directions on how to get from downtown by giving the Bellefontaine northbound car as a convenience. A GlobeDemocrat collection containing real estate listings reported that sales from North Pointe Real Estate Company were made to single women, married couples, and single men starting October 4, 1921. The Star and Times reported that lots were selling well by 1924.
The North Pointe Real Estate Company offered potential buyers the chance to win a pony in an advertisement published in the PostDispatch on May 31, 1925. (It is not necessary to purchase, but the fine print will be clear. The GlobeDemocrat reported that in the same year, additional sewers were being constructed to accommodate new houses. A 1929 real estate listing for a house at Summit Avenue sold for $6,000. It was a four-room house, with a kitchenette, hardwood floors, tile, and a garage.
