I am more familiar with the neighborhoods around Soulard Park than other neighborhoods because at one time I lived nearby. Things can change so fast within five years in any large city, but the swings in St Louis are baffling, at least they were to me until I learned more about the recent history of North St Louis from three riders.
North St Louis is a large area of St Louis north of downtown St Louis, check any neighborhood map. Before driving rideshare, I had never been there.
A rider whose trip started from south of downtown St Louis, close to Soulard, was chatting up her neighborhood, so positive, talking about all the great things she knew of it. I clearly remember how she said it was close to the freeway, so you could get anywhere quickly, how wonderful the houses are, the great people. Her destination was Midtown, and judging by her drop point she was either working in technology, or studying to work in a software career.
“So many got addicted so fast, and there were so few of us left.“
Our conversation turned toward North St Louis. Only days before another rider from Webster Groves had described the seminal event in North City which became the beginning of a colossal economic and social disaster for the once stable middle class region. Two Ford plants in North St Louis, where almost everyone in that large region of the city worked, closed at the same time. Coincidently, not long afterward the early crack cocaine epidemic swept through St Louis.
In her account of what happened, the haunting comment from this gentle young woman who had grown up and had family in North St Louis was “So many got addicted so fast, and there were so few of us left.”
Her manner of speaking was quiet and gentle, but she was clearly talking about a period of time and events of a tragedy unfolding over years, which were common knowledge within her community, since perhaps a few years before she was born.