Back in Ol’ St. Lou

When Chuck Berry sang about his hometown in 1959, St. Louis was coming off its peak. The 1950 census put the city’s population at more than 850,000, the highest ever. Today, the population sits at around 275,000 — a decline of two-thirds.

Missouri, alongside Ohio, is ground zero for an intensifying strain of yearning right-wing populism. (Josh Hawley and JD Vance were birds of a feather in the Senate.) It’s easy to see why. The state’s once-largest city rode the wave of American industrialization and then crashed with it, bleeding out to the suburbs. St. Louis is still built like a giant industrial park, with highways more suitable to transporting freight than people. A fifth of its once-humming structures are now abandoned. Large-scale demolition would be considered an improvement project.

About the Author

John R. Puri

John R. Puri is the Thomas L. Rhodes Fellow at National Review.

Featured Tags

When Chuck Berry sang about his hometown in 1959, St. Louis was coming off its peak. The 1950 census put the city’s population at more than 850,000, the highest ever. Today, the population sits at around 275,000 — a decline of two-thirds.

Missouri, alongside Ohio, is ground zero for an intensifying strain of yearning right-wing populism. (Josh Hawley and JD Vance were birds of a feather in the Senate.) It’s easy to see why. The state’s once-largest city rode the wave of American industrialization and then crashed with it, bleeding out to the suburbs. St. Louis is still built like a giant industrial park, with highways more suitable to transporting freight than people. A fifth of its once-humming structures are now abandoned. Large-scale demolition would be considered an improvement project.