Saturday was a beautiful day in Old North St. Louis, and visitors from far and wide came out to the Old North St. Louis House & Community Tour to walk, bike, or ride the trolley around to the 12 sites that were on display. The tour highlighted the community-wide revitalization in progress, with stops that demonstrated the diverse nature of the neighborhood, from an award-winning restoration of an 1879 Italianate townhouse to another 1870s property in the midst of a rehab for use as an affordable apartment. The other stops along the way presented almost everything in between, including a commercial space, the Urban Studio, and other new and historic homes.
Watch for more photos from the tour tomorrow.
Now that you have no excuse, plan to join us for a pleasant walk through some beautiful homes and enjoy the view along the streets of one of the most exciting up-and-coming neighborhoods in St. Louis. And if the weather isn't a good enough reason to come out, you may want to see the insides of one of the historic structures in the midst of a gut rehab through the Crown Square redevelopment. The photo below shows one of the properties on the block just to the north of the former 14th Street Mall in the early stage of its rehab, back in November and the next picture below that shows the building, earlier this afternoon...
This building will be one of 12 stops along the tour tomorrow.
Bike St. Louis, Great Rivers Greenway, and the City of St. Louis held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in Old North St. Louis this afternoon to celebrate the opening of 57 miles of additional on-street Bike St. Louis routes throughout the city and a couple of neighboring municipalities.
Above: Fifth Ward Alderwoman April Ford Griffin was one of the distinguished guests sharing comments with the crowd of neighborhood residents, friends and bike enthusiasts who gathered at Blair & St. Louis Avenue for the celebration.
Above: Mayor Francis Slay joined Alderwoman Ford Griffin and other dignitaries for the official ribbon-cutting. Below: Both the Mayor and Alderwoman took time to pose for photos with some of Grace Hill's Americorps Trail Rangers.
Below: This building on North 19th Street was purchased last year from the City's Land Reutilization Authority and is still undergoing a complete rehab in preparation for use as two rental apartments. The building has benefited from a major investment in significant amount of masonry work on the south wall. The current owner also was able to acquire the building at the rear of the property, as shown in the bottom photo, which will be her personal residence. 
So... don't forget to buy your tickets early to get the advance ticket price of $10. Visit 
Back by popular demand, this Landmarks Association "Most Enhanced Award" winning house on North Market will be on the tour again this year.
This home on Hebert was on the tour a couple years ago, but the owners have made significant progress with its rehab and are happy to show off their mix of new and old features. 
Check back tomorrow for more images of what you can see on Saturday. And in the meantime, go ahead and celebrate all of the "moms" in your life by buying them tickets to the Old North St. Louis House & Community Tour, just in time for Mother's Day.
A couple days before the house tour, we'll celebrate the new Bike St. Louis bike lanes that now connect ONSL with various other parts of the region, from Downtown St. Louis to Riverfront Trail and from Clayton to University City. We are proud to be the City of St. Louis site for the ribbon cutting ceremony on Thursday, May 8.
A few days after the ONSL House & Community Tour, on Wednesday, May 14 will be a celebration at the Missouri Historical Society for the History Happened Here website's new and expanded pages dedicated to Old North St. Louis. Watch for more details coming soon.
