St. Elmo Housing
I'm working on what has expanded into a rather large paper on housing in St. Elmo. Both a history of and a study of the current housing situation and the internal and external factors that are involved. No real reason other than I'm dang interested.
And I'm learning alot about St. Elmo, let me tell you. And there's something rather fun about reading or hearing about some interesting event and then calling up somebody who's lived in the neighborhood for 70 years to get their account; and I haven't even begun to tap into the unbelievable amount of research Mary has done for the St. Elmo Oral History project.
Beyond the historical research there's a good bit I'm having to learn on localized housing markets (as opposed to say, a more general "housing in California"). Particular historic districts, for the most part, are distinct from other historic districts including those in the same city. This is (and it would seem rather obvious) due to their age, but you can't understimate the difference in relevant factors between a purely market driven suburban development built in the last 50 years and a 100-250 year old urban neighborhood.
My thesis is (currently, and of course, I could be wildly incorrect) that the largest factors negatively contributing to the well-being (and I'm assuming a dearth of criteria for "well-being) of a neighborhood, in particular a historic neighborhood, is external forces manipulating the housing situation (whether that be absentee slumlords or outside realtors).
To be honest I'm just going with my gut on this one, but I feel I can prove intuition. So, if you have any info/data/suggested reading (Scott?), I'd love it. I'm compiling a stack of resources, and I'd love to have more. Even if its similar papers or studies on your neighborhoods, I'd love to read those too.
Josiah Q. Roe | By Josiah Roe | 11:45 AM
Comments
JQR - lets get together on that! i'll bring the camera and we'll talk about what yo are learning. who you have met. this should be a part of the oral history project and i need a collaborator....??? what do you think? give me a call, huh.
Posted by: mary at June 28, 2005 11:56 AM
You should email my mom. She's a research junkie. She has copies of the books "St. Elmo" and "Beulah" both cheesy romances, but she finds the history fascinating. She could give you some info. She's on all the St. Elmo neighborhood forums and giggles at your humorous remarks (i.e. "I counted how many beer cans were in my neighbors front yard....37"). The Wards have lived in St. Elmo since uhhh, 1978? They live in between Prof Green and the gay pride house. Send me an email if you want her email address.
Posted by: katiek at June 28, 2005 12:00 PM
I'd be curious to know what effects Section 8 housing has on a historic district.
Posted by: andyp at June 28, 2005 12:26 PM
Josiah, while you are doing your research, if you come across a listing of all of the available FSBO properties as well as Sherfey properties, I personally would LOVE to see it. I'm sure there are plenty of people who would benefit from such a list. (especially those like me who live 6 hours away).
I've tried posting this on my blog (i did see your comment mary!), but no one reads it anymore ...
Posted by: kposey at June 28, 2005 1:32 PM
im a moron.. here is the real link to my blog
Posted by: kposey at June 28, 2005 1:34 PM
I put something up on my blog yesterday that you'd want to search- the Library of Congress archives- lots of great Chattanooga stuff in there, probably some St. Elmo although I haven't looked for that specifically.
http://kodachromenights.blogspot.com/2005/06/online-photographs-and-historical.html
I found a few great photos of Civil War soliders at the waterfall at Lula Lake on Lookout and have a photo of me and a friend in the same place the soldiers were. Damn Yankees.
Posted by: mark at June 28, 2005 2:07 PM
Josiah - there's a good book that gets at some of these issues from a Christian perspective - Sidewalks In the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith written by a presbyterian pastor named Eric Jacobsen - he's a good guy and its worth a read. There are a number of other books within the New Urbanist canon that think through some of the strengths and downfalls of the traditional neighborhoods - Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl and the Decline of the American Dream is the most concise expression of the New Urbanist take on the issue (which has some faults but asks the right kind of questions I think) and Jane Jacobs's The Death and Life of Great American Cities despite being more than 40 years old is still considered essential reading by nearly everyone. There's other good stuff out there as well . . .
Posted by: Van at June 28, 2005 2:40 PM
For some basic demographic information and analysis the St. Elmo Neighborhood Plan (available at www.chcrpa.org) might be useful, as might some of the census data on housing at the same site.
Posted by: J at June 28, 2005 9:38 PM
Josiah, you should pick up or borrow Kyvig and Marty's _Nearby History_. It is a great practical resource for anyone doing local history. It's also got a lot of recommended reading in it.
Posted by: tom at June 29, 2005 1:08 PM
Sorry that link was dead- it cut off the "l". Yes, "it" did because whenever you make a mistake on a computer it was the computer's fault.
http://kodachromenights.blogspot.com/2005/06/online-photographs-and-historical.html
Posted by: mark at July 1, 2005 2:15 PM
Have you checked with the Sims? Seems like they've done quite a bit of St. Elmo historical stuff in connection with an attempt to revive old properties in the 70's.
Posted by: Kordax at July 3, 2005 8:07 PM
