How a Trolley Could Have Saved the Delmar Maker's District

The Delmar Maker’s District has been an ambitious, awesome project including various businesses to revitalize a section of St. Louis that highlights multiple issues within the city: 1. Nobody wants to go to North City because it feels foreign and scary, and 2. The city doesn’t have anything in place to alleviate the pain of number 1 to make it easier to go. The population of DeBaliviere Place was 3,651 in the 2020 Census. The population of Academy was 2,355, and the population of Visitation Park was 924, for a combined total of 6,930. Compare this to the populations of bustling neighborhoods like Central West End (16,670) or Tower Grove South (12,719). The neighborhoods surrounding the Delmar Maker’s District aren’t populated enough for businesses to survive on surrounding residents alone. The neighborhoods around Delmar Maker’s District also lack any reason to travel to this area. Midtown boasts The Fox and The Chaifetz, and Tower Grove South boasts Tower Grove Park, meaning people are in these neighborhoods and participating in activities and events that will inevitably leave them looking for food afterwards (perhaps at The Fountain on Locust or Steve’s Hot Dogs). I don’t think Delmar Maker’s District is in a logistically bad location; it’s nestled right between Central West End and the Loop, two areas that already have tons of walking traffic. I name this article in jest about the Loop Trolley, but it does highlight a solution to the issue; there are people in the surrounding areas that are out and spending money, but the city has no easy public transit to bridge the last few hundred feet to wind up at the Delmar Maker’s District. There are also no convenient or protected greenways or pedestrian lanes towards the neighborhood, costing these businesses the loss of business from cyclists either coming from Forest Park, or from The Loop/Central West End along Delmar. St. Louisans have a ton of neighborhood pride, to the point of hypersegregation beyond just the Delmar Divide. It’s nothing new; people want to live in neighborhoods where there is stuff to do, and there is always a reluctance to leave that comfort zone. However, when compared to cities like DC or Chicago, the barrier of effort to leave a neighborhood and explore another neighborhood in St. Louis is astronomically high. Not everyone owns a car nor wants to, and driving a car is also an added labor to your day when you could easily walk to a local restaurant instead of driving 20 minutes. The announced closure of Steve’s Hot Dogs and The Fountain on Delmar breaks my heart, and I hope the leaders involved in those businesses know that this closure is no failure on their part. The situation the Delmar Maker’s District faces is due to the astronomically high effort it takes to reach the neighborhood in a city lacking in public transit and extensive greenways.