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Cheltenham, St. Louis

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Coordinates: 38°37′36″N 90°16′54″W / 38.6267°N 90.2817°W / 38.6267; -90.2817
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cheltenham
Neighborhood of St. Louis
Street in Cheltenham, April 2011
Street in Cheltenham, April 2011
Location (red) of Cheltenham within St. Louis
Location (red) of Cheltenham within St. Louis
CountryUnited States
StateMissouri
CitySt. Louis
Wards17, 24
Area
 • Total0.33 sq mi (0.9 km2)
Population
 (2020)[1]
 • Total1,260
 • Density3,800/sq mi (1,500/km2)
ZIP code(s)
Part of 63110
Area code(s)314
Websitestlouis-mo.gov

Cheltenham is a neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. It is bound by Forest Park on the north, Macklind on the east, Manchester Avenue on the south, and Hampton Avenue on the west. Businesses located in Cheltenham include the St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, which is built on the site of the former Forest Park Highlands amusement park, as well as The Green Shag Market vintage/antique mall. It is also the former home of FOX-affiliate KTVI, as well as the St. Louis Arena. Cheltenham once covered the Clayton-Tamm neighborhood. See the 1878 Cheltenham and Additions map.

History

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In October, 1856, Icarians, led by Frenchman Etienne Cabet, settled in St. Louis, Missouri. The Icarians were a 19th-century French utopian movement which had established a number of egalitarian communes in the United States.[2][3]

The Icarians led by Cabet were dissident Icarians from Nauvoo, Illinois. These dissidents left in three different groups on October 15, 22, and 30. Cabet left Nauvoo with the final group on October 30, 1856. Cabet and his 180 loyal followers settled in "New Bremen" in the German section of St. Louis. Cabet had a stroke and died on November 8, 1856. Mercadier became the community's new president.[4] The situation in St. Louis was not ideal and the group had lost a number of dissatisfied members.

On February 15, 1858, the remaining 151 Icarians had chosen a site west of St. Louis and settled on a few hundred acres in Cheltenham. They purchased the land for $25,000 at 6% interest with a $500 down-payment.[5] Here they established workshops of tailors, joiners, wheelwrights, blacksmiths, painters, and shoemakers. The Cheltenham commune published a journal and a number of books, and it maintained in Paris, France, 'the Bureau' which printed and circulated brochures across France proclaiming the success of the commune. Schools were opened for the boys and girls, and a "salle d'asile" - a sort of kindergarten - was opened for the smallest children.[6] The revising of the community's constitution, however, proved to be problematic.

Success of the community was not to be realized. Two radical distinct parties developed, where the majority adhered faithfully to the ideas entertained by the community's deceased founder Etienne Cabet, and believed in investing very large if not absolutely dictatorial authority in some chosen leader called a "Gérance" or "Gérant unique", who would direct the moral and material affairs of the community. The minority, however, who were led by a man named Vogel, a cap maker from Comar, France, were unalterably opposed to such an undemocratic system of government. Vogel and the dissidents would not accept compromise, and the General Assembly sessions of 1858 and 1859 were stormy. Vogel was accused by Mercadier of insulting Cabet's memory by insisting on a "parliamentary government." On February 17, 1859, the majority of the General Assembly, backing Mercadier, voted to reenact what they referred to as the "Engagement of October 13, 1856" which were the strict pledges that Cabet had demanded of his followers before leaving Navoo, Illinois. This pledge included a ban on smoking and drinking. For Vogel and the dissidents, this ban was deemed intolerable.[7] Differences of opinion degenerated into party strife; and the vanquished minority, numbering forty-two persons, left the community. The loss of Vogel and the dissidents caused a serious problem. Of those who left, many were the most skillful craftsmen, and the loss was irreparable. Furthermore, Vogel and his supporters took with them $188 in cash, $588 in IOUs, and $1,800 in clothing and tools. The depleted society struggled heroically for five years longer in spite of a series of events which otherwise would have brought them down. By January 1864 with Arsene Sauva as president, there were 8 "citoyens," 7 "citoyennes," and some children left in Cheltenham. With this internal strife, the loss of most of its members, young men leaving to fight on the Union side in the American Civil War, and growing debt, the remaining members of the colony eventually agreed at their last General Assembly to disband the community. The keys to the property were handed over to its original owner, Thomas Allen, in 1864. The Louis Gillet and Arsene Sauva families later joined the Icarian Community in Adams County, Iowa.[8]

Demographics

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Historical population
YearPop.±%
1990 491—    
2000 480−2.2%
2010 620+29.2%
2020 1,260+103.2%

In 2020 Cheltenham's population was 65.2% White, 8.4% Black, 0.2% Native American, 17.9% Asian, 7.1% Two or More Races, and 1.3% Some Other Race. 5.4% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino origin.[9]

Racial composition 1990[10] 2000[11] 2010[12] 2020
White 93.7% 80.0% 67.3% 65.2%
Black or African American 4.9% 14.0% 15.0% 8.4%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 1.5% 3.7% 5.4%
Asian 2.1% 10.6% 17.9%
Two or More Races 1.7% 5.6% 7.1%

Other Cheltenhams

[edit]
Cheltenham on the Twinning Fingerpost in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania.[13][14][15][16]

Six other places in the World are named "Cheltenham."

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "2020 Census Neighborhood Results".
  2. ^ James Matthew Morris, Andrea L. Kross (2004). Historical Dictionary of Utopianism. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810849129.
  3. ^ JR. C. S. Trahair (1999). Utopias and Utopians: An Historical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 70. ISBN 9780313294655. icarians cheltenham.
  4. ^ THE CHELTENHAM ICARIANS: FROM SHAW'S ICARIA http://www2.webster.edu/~corbetre/dogtown/icarian/schweers-overview.html
  5. ^ Robert P. Sutton (1994). Les Icariens: The Utopian Dream in Europe and America. University of Illinois Press. p. 173. ISBN 9780252020674. cheltenham.
  6. ^ THE STORY OF ICARIA http://www2.webster.edu/~corbetre/dogtown/icarian/shaw.html
  7. ^ Robert P. Sutton (1994). Les Icariens: The Utopian Dream in Europe and America. University of Illinois Press. p. 173. ISBN 9780252020674. cheltenham.
  8. ^ Etienne Cabet (2003). Travels in Icaria. Syracuse University Press. ISBN 9780815630098.
  9. ^ https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/planning/research/documents/upload/Total-Population-by-Neighborhood-Census-2020-Redistricting-Release-2.pdf [bare URL PDF]
  10. ^ "Cheltnenham Neighborhood Statistics". City of St. Louis.
  11. ^ "The City of St. Louis Missouri". City of St. Louis.
  12. ^ "The City of St. Louis Missouri". City of St. Louis.
  13. ^ Cheltenham Twinning Association
  14. ^ Cheltenham Town Council: Other Cheltenhams
  15. ^ Other Cheltenhams Archived 2013-01-11 at archive.today
  16. ^ Cheltenham Township Twinning

38°37′36″N 90°16′54″W / 38.6267°N 90.2817°W / 38.6267; -90.2817

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