THE NAME "DOGTOWN," AND ITS LOCATION

An addendum to my note of December 11, 1999

June 9, 2004

Dogtown, as surely all of you know, is not an "official" neighborhood in that it has defined boundaries in some government office, or by law.

I just get so tired of people wanting to argue about is this or that place Dogtown. So, the addition is a caution. It indicates taht HOW I AM USING THE TERM, and with what boundaries, but that I am quite aware that some PARTS of that area used to be or is still referred to by other names.

I'm just hoping people can get by that issue and turn to the history. History of what? The one world that in this 21st century is the best descriptor that communicates something to St. Louisans is DOGTOWN.

Further, the neighborhood is rather naturally locked in.

• North for sure: Forest Park.
• South in great measure: Both the railroad tracks at Manchester, reinforced by I-44.
• East is fair definitives too. By the time one gets to Macklind there are virtually no houses again until you get to Kingshighway, or just one block away.
• West is odd. McCausland is just a street, and a fair busy one, but almost never does one refer to WEST of McCausland as Dogtown, so I limit my own use of Dogtown to the EAST side of McCausland even though the city limits in another two blocks west.

In the Dogtown Historical Society we decided NOT to formally define Dogtown, and it's still that way in our by-laws. Yet we run into some problems that just demand it. To whom will we offer our CENTURY PLAQUES? One part is easy: homes of 100 years or more. But WHICH 100 year old homes? It demands a boundary. As we collect photos and other things for the society, what do we accept and frame and display? Obviously not photos from Soulard. But, what about the Hill? Most would say no, that's its own neighborhood, not ours. But what is ours? Again, we simply do in fact HAVE to make decisions.

In my own case I have a growing collection of photos which I've worked very very hard to find and to beg people to let me copy or have that are from: Dewey (from the Hi-Point region), Gratiot (from what many used to call or some even still call Cheltenham) and Roe (Franz Park and earlier Benton).

Those photos give many people joy and they love it. But, is it Dogtown? I had to make decisions. I don't have St. Lukes, or St. Ambroise or Southwest High or St. Louis U High. I had to draw boundaries.

Thoughs are this subject are welcome. Please just e-mail me.

Bob Corbett

June 9, 2004