21 years ago my house stood in this area. The road went down a hill and there was a subdivison of homes on the street. St Louis airport brought most of the homes in this area to build a new airplane runway. They filled in the valley and raised the area about 20 taller than it was. The airport ruined the City of Bridgeton, razed around 400-500 homes and the very very sad thing is after disruping peoples lives, threating them to sell their homes and generally killing a city, 9-11 happened, American Airlines cut most of their flights from St Louis and the new runway is hardly used.
For me it was the second time around. The airport also brough my first house in 1979 and we moved to this site. Before I purchased the house that stood here I asked the airport authority if they would every expand to this area. I was told "no not in your life time", well I guess I should be dead because 13 years later they knocked on my door again.
I now live 30 miles west of the airport, crossing my fingers that the airport doesn't decide to expand again!
One of the neighbors from this neighborhood is doing a documentery on what the airport did to the City of Bridgeton and I am going to be interviewed.
2 comments:
What a very sad story!
The most sad thing is that I can never take my grandkids to show them my childhood home, their parents childhood home; their great grandparents home, their great great grandparents home as well as assorted great aunts and uncles homes; the church and school that we all went to. The only members of their paternal grandfather's family still in Bridgeton are in the graveyard, which is right under the approach to the airport.
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