Locals who think they’ve seen it all can discover a brand-new, in-depth look at St. Louis with See STL Tours. The Missouri Historical Society program offers tours that go beyond the Arch or Forest Park and focus on the city’s complex and diverse history.
With tour subject matter ranging from the political, socioeconomic, and cultural boundaries of Cherokee Street to gay liberation in St. Louis, there is a new, rich history that can be uncovered on the tours, even if you’ve spent a lifetime in the city.
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Prior to creating the See STL Tours, community tours manager Amanda Clark had worked as a volunteer tour guide in St. Louis for a number of years. After evaluating the tour experiences that were being offered in St. Louis, Clark felt that she could add a new and fresh perspective to what was available.
“I kind of looked around and noticed that everyone that was giving tours around St. Louis was either a retired professor or an aspiring professor,” Clark says. “I wanted to provide a space for new voices, new perspectives. And we did that.”
In providing a space for these new perspectives, the researchers behind the tours went above and beyond to talk to people in and around St. Louis and searching for contextual history through varying avenues, using the experiences to inform their tour content.
“We connect with people that live in the neighborhood, with institutions, businesses, things like that,” Clark says. “Of course we read our history books, but also we do a lot of research through historic newspapers, because that’s where you find stories that don’t make it to history books, the more everyday stories, some personal stories, and you can understand people’s perspectives and what it was like to live during a particular time.”
See STL tours specializes in private tours, and there is an array of topics to choose from. With Pride month right around the corner, Gay Liberation in the Gateway City is one walking tour that is all about LGBTQ+ community life and political activism in the 20th century. Associated with the Gateway to Pride virtual exhibit held by the Missouri History Museum, the tour explores locations like nightclubs and progressive churches, the region’s first gay community center, and the starting point of St. Louis’ first Pride march.
The organization’s most popular option, the Delmar Divide tour, is a two-hour experience that discusses 20th-century disinvestment and white flight. It includes neighborhoods such as Dutchtown, Benton Park, and The Ville, and the unscripted tour provides ample opportunities for dialogue and reflection.
“St. Louis is more than just the arch and Forest Park,” Clark says. “We’re a deeply historic city. We’re a really cool city, which I think is a big thing. I think a lot of people kind of give St. Louis a bad rep on certain levels, and we get to show them that it’s actually a really cool place with a fascinating history.”
