St. Louis Sings the Blues

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St. Louis suffered a major setback in 1979, when General Motors announced plans to close its 61 -year-old auto assembly plant downtown and build a new $500 million facility in St. Charles County, 35 miles west of St. Louis. The move will reportedly cost the city nearly 10% of its industrial tax base. Says GM Spokesman James Hughes: "We just didn't have the room we needed in the city, and we have a very willing county administration."

There are, however, a few signs that St. Louis may rise again. For one thing, the rapid growth of St. Louis County, which for decades has drawn people and businesses away from the city, is slowing to a trickle. Last decade the county grew only 2%, while nearby Franklin, Jefferson and St. Charles counties posted population gains ranging from 29% to 55%. Now St. Louis County is starting to have trouble supporting its schools and services. Already city officials are beginning to talk merger again, though this time the suburbanites do not seem so hostile.

In addition, St. Louis has taken important steps toward recovery. It stopped tearing down abandoned homes and started selling them, for $100 to $10,000, to people who agreed to fix them up and live in them. Some 15,000 houses have been reclaimed since 1977. "We can provide some pretty doggone cheap housing in this city," says Donald Spaid, director of the Community Development Agency. "It's the new territory for young buyers. The boonies don't hold anything special boonies for them. They grew up in the boonies."

A new convention center was completed in 1977, and three major high-rise office buildings are now under construction. Private developers have rehabilitated buildings in the historic Soulard Market district and created Laclède's Landing, a cobblestoned riverfront enclave of restaurants and shops. A number of longtime St. Louis firms have declared their intention of staying in town and helping. Among them is Anheuser-Busch, the giant brewer whose world headquarters now sprawls across 70 square blocks, including the site where it was founded in 1852. Says John Baird, senior vice president and general counsel of Ralston Purina Co., which also has been in the same location since its founding in 1894: "The future looks better to me now than it did ten years ago by a long shot. This isn't Custer's last stand." Adds Mayor Schoemehl: "We have problems. But we have people and we have neighborhoods who care. We are going to come through."

— By Ellie McGrath. Reported by David S. Jackson/St. Louis