The Sidewalks of St. Louis: Places, People, and Politics in an American City

by George Lipsitz

In twenty-seven vignettes, Lipsitz explores the lives of oddballs and outcasts, immigrants and artists, those whose stories are often left out of traditional history books, but whose labor and imagination made St. Louis the city it is today.

152 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

Reviews

[Michael Brickey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun read for anyone in love with a place we call the Lou. This is a collection of editorial/journalistic pieces he wrote for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and, therefore, it does not read like a typical piece of history. It is not assembled chronologically and that may be its greatest strength. By dividing the book into three main sections, George Lipsitz has written a very accessible account of St. Louis. Its weakness, however, is the lack of direct citations. There are no footnotes that direct the reader to a specific source for a specific fact. Apart from that, I loved the book.
His essays are short, but very descriptive and informative. In "Places" he discusses Sugarloaf Mound, Chouteau's Pond, and Meremac Highlands: three places that I never knew about and never heard about. These places no longer exist, but they were definitive in the shape of the city and the development of its population. In "People" he narrates the tale of Felix Carvajal at the 1904 Olympics, and shows how Billy Peek was transformed by a Chuck Berry tune he heard on the radio (Maybelline). In "Politics" he summarizes how Chicago became a greater economic power than St. Louis because of John Deere, and how the closing of the St. Louis's public baths represented a major shift in public health policy in the U.S.
Anyone interested in St. Louis history should pick this book up. Its one you'll easily finish on one of those days of rain in mid-May.