Central West End, St. Louis


The Central West End is a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri, stretching from Midtown's western edge to Union Boulevard and bordering on Forest Park with its outstanding array of free cultural institutions. It includes the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis on Lindell Boulevard at Newstead Avenue, which houses the largest collection of mosaics in the world. The Central West End is represented by three aldermen as it sits partially in the 17th, 18th, and 28th Wards.

Notable people

Playwright Tennessee Williams grew up in the neighborhood, and the house of the renowned poet T. S. Eliot is located in the Central West End. Beat writer William S. Burroughs's childhood home sits on Pershing Avenue in the neighborhood. And though, often mistaken as the location of Sally Benson's home, the setting of the stories which were adapted into the movie Meet Me in St. Louis, 5135 Kensington Avenue was actually located in the Academy neighborhood just across Delmar Boulevard to the north.
George Julian Zolnay the Hungarian and American sculptor known as the "Sculptor of the Confederacy" lived in the Central West End in the early 1900s at 4384 Maryland Avenue.

Geography

The neighborhood's boundaries are Union Boulevard and the eastern portion of Forest Park on the west, I-64/US 40 on the south, Delmar Boulevard on the north, and Vandeventer Ave on the east.
The Central West End's main commercial district runs along Euclid Avenue and stretches from Forest Park Parkway on the south to Delmar Boulevard on the north. Many new residential and commercial developments have appeared along Euclid Avenue in recent years, and the building boom shows no signs of slowing down. These modern developments mix with elaborate, turn of the 20th century details, such as lamp posts and cobblestone streets, to create a unique atmosphere in the neighborhood - which first grew in popularity during the coming of the 1904 World's Fair, held in the adjacent Forest Park. Some residential areas of the Central West End are included in the National Register of Historic Places. One example is Fullerton's Westminster Place, whose large, architect-designed homes, most of which were built in the period 1890–1910, were described in the NRHP nomination as one of the finest turn of the 20th century streetscapes in the United States. Another is the private place called Washington Terrace, laid out in 1892. There are also more modern residential buildings that can be found in Central West End, including Park East Tower and One Hundred, which will be the tallest building in Central West End once it is completed in summer of 2020.

Public facilities

CWE Business Community Improvement District
In 2010 the neighborhood's population was 58.0% White, 28.0% Black, 0.2% Native American, 11.1% Asian, 2.2% Two or More Races, and 0.5% Some Other Race. 2.7% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino origin.
Racial composition20002010
White55.5%58.0%
Black or African American36.4%28.0%
Hispanic or Latino 2.0%2.7%
Asian5.4%11.1%
Two or More Races1.8%2.2%