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ABOUT THE WEST END WORD
The West End Word is 35 years old, and it celebrated its birthday with a party Aug. 13, 2007 at Duff’s Restaurant, another Central West End institution that came into being in 1972.
Mayor Francis Slay declared the day West End Word Day in the city of St. Louis and in a proclamation stated that throughout the newspaper’s history it “has helped sustain the diverse and interesting character of the Central West End and has provided a strong base for the renaissance of this historic and culturally rich neighborhood.”
Lyda Krewson, alderman for the 28th Ward, said the newspaper is a touchstone in the neighborhood and that community newspapers offer a level of intimacy and kinds of information that metropolitan dailies cannot.
Three of the founders of the paper, Ellie Chapman, Sun Smith-Foret and Robert Duffy, were in attendance at the party. The fourth member of the group, Jack Lowell, moved to Boston shortly after the paper began.
Mary Bartley and Ellen Cusumano, mainstays of the paper in its early years, also attended the party.
Smith-Foret said the name of Bill Chapman, rector of Trinity Episcopalian and husband of Ellie Chapman, is often omitted from discussions about the early years of the Word. Although he did not work on the Word, he is the one who brought all the parties together in the first place, she said.
Smith-Foret said she was a real estate agent at the time and there was a growing concern that certain areas were being undermined through redlining. Redlining, a practice that has since been made illegal, means that banks refuse to make loans on properties simply because of where they are. The Central West End, historically one of the most prestigious neighborhoods in the region, was one of the areas that was redlined in the early 1970s.
In the late ’60s and early ’70s it seemed that people across the country had lost their faith in city living. The deterioration of urban environments was systemic, and those who went against the flow and chose to move to the city had plenty to keep them busy. The forces that led to the founding of the Word were the same ones that led to the creation of New City School, the CWE Bank and the Zoo-Museum District, all of which date back to the same era.
The paper in its early days ran articles such as “Why is this building still standing?” in an attempt to shame owners into fixing them or tearing them down. There were also informative reports on the minutiae of local politics, such as races for the position of ward committeeman.
In the ’70s, the paper was run entirely by volunteers and one contributor used her station wagon to haul papers, while the contributors’ children helped distribute papers to homes and businesses.
Incrementally the Word became more of a professional outfit. After about seven years, advertising was strong enough for contributors to be paid.
In the ’80s, the ownership changed several times, from a consortium led by Suzanne Goell to Ellen Cusumano then to Jeff Fister, the current owner, in 1989.
In 2001, the paper redefined its coverage area, using the tagline “City Living from the Arch to the Innerbelt” to acknowledge that there is a commonality between University City and Clayton (strictly speaking inner suburbs), established communities in the city, such as the Central West End, and emerging ones, such as the downtown loft district.
The Fister era also saw the introduction of sister company Virginia Publishing, which produces local history books.
First published in 1991, The Days and Nights of the Central West End is the definitive account of the Central West End in the’70s and ’80s. The book has just been reissued by Virginia Publishing.
Alongside profiles of characters from the distant past, such as Pete Daleo, who toured the neighborhood selling his fruit and vegetables out of a truck, and “Uncle Polky,” who drove around the neighborhood in a green-checkered cab, there are profiles of more recent memorable characters such as Bob Jamerson — a 50-year-old man who knows of no more joyous way to spend a day than dressing up in a skimpy costume and baton-twirling his way down a major road.
Some of the Days and Nights articles were commissioned afresh and some plundered from the West End Word. archives.
In an endnote to the original book, copy editor Ellie Chapman wrote that the early years of running the newspaper “were often chaotic and exhausting, but the staff rewards came at press time, when we could see our efforts in print. … What we accomplished was more than worth the effort.”
This article, by Editor Tim Woodcock, was published in August, 2007.
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