Photograph by Chris Naffziger
The Voss residence
There are private streets in North St. Louis. That might come as a shock to many St. Louis residents. Another shock might be the existence of a large neighborhood full of stately mansions and grand homes known as the West End. No, not the Central West End, the West End, where the wealthy and well-connected once lived in a broad swath of St. Louis stretching from Lewis Place westward all the way to the city limits. But a large portion of the West End lies north of Delmar Boulevard, and redlining, the illegal but still common practice of denying mortgages in majority African-American neighborhoods, has caused many of us to forget its existence. South of Delmar, the Central West End became majority white, and north, what are now a half-dozen different neighborhoods of the former West End became the center of a proud middle-class Black community.
I was recently contacted by Dr. Robert Salter, a resident of Windermere Place, one of those private streets north of Delmar, just off Union Boulevard. Union just north of Delmar is lined with some of the most beautiful religious and civic buildings in St. Louis, including Soldan High School and the Cabanne Public Library. Salter and I conversed via Zoom about the history of Windermere Place, and how its white residents had embraced integration in the 1950s, welcoming their new Black neighbors in defiance of white flight, which had seen the perpetuation of segregation in the mid-20th century. The private street garnered national attention as a model where white and Black people were living together in harmony during the civil rights era and beyond. He also told me I had to meet Mrs. Voss, a longtime resident of Windermere Place.
Last week, while following social distancing guidelines, I met Ann Reis Voss in her home on Windermere Place, where she and her family have lived since 1958. The house itself is representative of the rich architecture north of the West End, three stories tall with a stone front and original woodwork on the interior. Many houses on the private street have similar floorplans, Voss says, and did not originally have indoor plumbing or central heating. While some residences on Windermere Place date to the late 19th century, the Voss residence and many of the other houses date to the first decade of the 20th. Records show an Otto Schloeman was one of the first residents of the house, and he may have been its builder. Originally, fireplaces heated most of the rooms, but they had been removed by the time the Vosses purchased the house. There is still a clawfoot bathtub. Windermere was far from the central city when it was first built, but the Hodiamont Streetcar line, which turned around in Wellston, passed by only a short walk away.
“I came to DeBaliviere and Delmar in 1930, and I’ve lived within two blocks my entire life," says Voss." I was probably born on the kitchen table. My son Bob is my driver. We love it. I’m turning 94 on September 20."
Voss’s memory is extraordinary, and she can list off the addresses of everywhere she has lived, including 5525 and 5531 Clemens. She can even remember which of those two houses has its original front door (and can give an aesthetic appraisal of the new door that has been replaced an old one). She went to high school in the 1940s just behind where her family lives now, at the former Blewett High School, where she was on the debate team and played several sports. On Fridays, Mrs. Voss would head over to the Winter Garden on DeBaliviere for speed skating, and she also played tennis, ranking third in Missouri. She met and married her husband Robert Voss in 1949, and then moved into the house on Windermere Place in 1958. Robert played the drums and became friends with many members of the African-American community through music.
Photograph by Chris Naffziger
Ann Voss with a portrait of Robert Voss
“He was an outstanding drummer,” Voss reminisces. Her husband passed away in 1987. They had six sons and a daughter around this time, and three of her sons still live with her in the house. Having St. Luke’s Hospital on Delmar nearby was convenient for the family. Voss keeps up to date with current affairs, and we discussed the recently unveiled plans for the vacant hospital’s redevelopment. She also gave me a detailed description of who lives on Windermere now—and back in 1958.
Two directors of the Saint Louis Art Museum once lived on the street. Voss also remembers when Chuck Berry showed up and bought 13 Windermere Place—in cash, according to her memory. She still remembers Berry’s wife, Themetta: “His wife [was] a lovely person.”
When the Vosses first moved to Windermere Place in 1958, there were only a few African Americans. As the 1960s continued, the West End became more and more African American as white flight accelerated. Delmar became the border between North St. Louis and the Central West End to the south. Windermere Place bucked that trend and drew national media attention as whites and Blacks continued to live together. Involved in community organizing, Voss even staged a school busing protest that received coverage in The New York Times.
“I very much believe in integration,” Voss explains, and her husband was also very supportive and influential in their decision to continue to live in the multicultural environment. While Voss is devoutly Roman Catholic, two of her best friends growing up were Jewish (much of the West End was the center of Jewish life in St. Louis in the early 20th century), and she witnessed the anti-Semitism they faced. Her son Jimmy was the head chef at Duff’s and for the Grateful Dead, and was childhood friends with Representative Lacy Clay, who lived a short distance away. He distinctly remembers playing the iconic board game Mousetrap with the future congressman. After the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Voss painted a portrait of the civil rights leader, which she keeps in the house.
Photograph by Chris Naffziger
Ann and Bob Voss with a portrait of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
“We have fought to keep up our block,” Voss says, speaking about her neighbors’ and her work over the last 60 years living on Windermere, working for social justice in the West End. She and her husband also worked to restore the Shrine of St. Joseph just north of Downtown, which was in danger of being demolished. Voss misses being able to take part in her responsibilities at the Shrine, where she has been active for decades. She and Bob recently went to the New Cathedral for a service, only to discover they were the only people in the massive basilica.
Voss gave me a tour of her backyard, showing the broad two-story back porch where she once slept on hot summer nights. Her husband once almost fell into the old well, obscured by grass, she remembered.
“We get a good breeze across the field,” Voss says, gesturing toward the Soldan High School football field behind her house. Like many senior citizens right now, she’s missing the routines that keep her active, admitting that she’s been watching too much television lately.
Private streets in St. Louis have been receiving international attention recently as some believe they are symbols of exclusion. It was refreshing and inspiring to visit Windermere Place and meet a woman whose life’s work has instead been to embrace inclusion.
