Neighborhood NW of airport, empty? (St. Louis, Bridgeton: rentals, houses, neighborhoods)

[lmcintyre1s]

Let me preface this post by saying I am pretty familiar with St. Louis, but not so much the area NW of Lambert. I flew in this afternoon from Dallas, and as we were descending, right after we crossed the Missouri River, I saw what appeared to be an entire neighborhood (streets layed out like a suburb) but no houses at all, just lots filled with trees. Am I crazy, or can someone provide a little info? I can try to be a little more specfic if it helps any. Thanks!

[chr1s]

Welcome to Bridgeton?

I believe these homes were 'eliminated' to make way for the new runway.

[lmcintyre1s]

I believe you're right. Looks like a street called Woodford Way Dr runs right through the middle of it. When did this occur? Was this a "blighted" area? Did someone just buy out the houses and tear them down?

edit: Found a little info on it. Carrollton subdivision.

Thanks for the help!

[1greatcity]

Taken by eminent domain.

[BoomBoxing]

Yup that's bridgeton. My sister lived there and got eminent domain'd out.

[flynavyj]

I'm a former resident, grew up there, lived there, and watched it get taken away. When i was a kid i remember the yellow ribbon campaign which had us to putting ribbons on our trees, doors, overhangs, etc to show our unity against what was called F4, the taking of Bridgeton for airport expansion. During the very late 90's and early 2000's the push came through and the airport finally bought the homes in the carollton subdivision. Very sad for all those who lived there, and even worse for those who DIDN'T get bought out, but were stuck in their unsellable homes.

I grew up on Grundy Dr., in a small 3 bd rm, 2 ba home. Slab foundation a single carport and integrated shed on Grundy Dr., fitcher and fritchel built a good chunk of "old carrolton (South of 270), (google earth will show you the history in time laspe). My grade school was a block away on Dupage Ln (St. Lawrence the Martyr) along with my grandmother's home. As of now, it's all gone, just the streets remain. Every friend's house, my piano teachers home, grade school, my home, all gone, for the sake of airport expansion which wasn't really needed.

Luckily my folks left carrolton back in 94' and we moved to the other side of Bridgeton. The home owners who were bought out initially during the buy-out period did pretty well. But as funds became scarce and people couldn't claim the "hardship" buyouts, things became much less lucrative.

Prior to the airport expansion, Carrolton was a "vibrant" middle class community. Grocers, hardware stores, bowling alley, video rentals, multiple grade schools, etc. After the airport buyout, three grade schools went away (that i can remember) several of Bridgeton's Parks became essentially deserted, and that entire part of town that was a very comfortable piece of "middle America" vanished....I find it sad to say the least!

[1greatcity]

It wasn't the first time that Lambert Airport acquired surrounding neighborhoods. Over the years, a community called Bridgeton Terrace totally disappeared; and large portions of Berkeley and Kinloch have also fell victim. A lot of that was for "noise abatement", rather than outright expansion.
But honestly, it's not unusual for a major airport to take over surrounding neighborhoods-- especially when the airport is located in a built-up area and can't expand without doing so. Although losing homes, schools, churches and businesses can certainly be viewed as a tragedy, sadly, these losses apparently take a back seat to the economic importance of a major airport.

[flynavyj]

The problems that plague this airport expansion were numerous. Whether it was the increased Taxi times to the new runway, making it not a "first" choice for most airlines to take off from, the fact that the new runway still doesn't provide ample lateral separation for simultaneous ILS approaches to minimums, or the fact that the airline the runway was initially being designed for (TWA) is no longer in existence and the company that bought TWA has since axed their St. Louis hub. Hopefully we'll see another airline come in here and pick up the slack...But the slack in the rope has been growing steadily for a number of years, and i suspect that it has more to do with airport management problems than it does with the actual airport.

What we have here is an airport in the middle of the country, that is under utilized in terms of arrival and departure numbers, occupied gate space, and some of the most experienced and professional air traffic controllers in the country. There's a ton of potential in this place, and it's being squandered away by a bunch of idiots who wouldn't find their way to the bathroom even if someone was holding their hand.

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Probably Carrollton/Bridgeton. It was wiped out for the new airport.

Kinloch was another victim. Saint Louis Patina

Carrollton blog 56 Houses Left

[STLCityMike]

I certainly would love to see another airline come to St. Louis and build a hub here. The location is wonderful (centrally located). Alas, with all of the consolidations in the ailrine industry, I do not see this happening for a very long time, if at all. In fact, this same situation has occurred in many areas of the country as airlines consolidate operations and buy up competitors. I expect the new 'Delta' will clean house and the old Northwest hubs will experience many set backs. Other examples include:

American's reduction of filghts / elimination of the following hub cities:
Nashiville, raleigh-Durham, San Jose, and San Juan

US Air's reduction in flights in:
Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis

Delta's Reduction in flights in:
Cincinnati

Very few places have secured a new hub status.