UCity Directory 2024

University City Community Directory | 2024-25 37 A CITY REALIZED The City of University City was formally incorporated in September 1906, and Lewis became the first mayor. The city’s name reflected the community’s proximity to Washington University and Lewis’ hope that it would become a center of learning and culture. Over the next few years, with Lewis’ guidance, subdivisions developed, banks opened, and commercial activity prospered. The University City School District formed, and in 1915, University City was one of the first cities in the country to develop a junior high school system. On February 4, 1947, University City voters adopted a home rule charter and firmly established a new Council-Manager form of municipal government. The city expanded to its current boundaries, encompassing 5.8 square miles, by the 1960s. During the decades following final annexation, the City has seen much population change, development and redevelopment, as well as political controversy and stability. Robert H. Salisbury, in an introduction to Legacy of the Lions wrote the following: “How has University City (or U. City, as the locals say) maintained this distinctiveness? One factor has been the early realization by Lewis and his successors that housing development would be more interesting, attractive and stable if the bulldozer were restrained, the contours of the land respected, and the residential areas made into viable neighborhoods rather that mere housing tracts … there were some remarkable men and women who gave enormously of themselves to build and sustain a community that they and their children could live in proudly and happily. U. City has been, above all, a community of devoted citizens… .” SOURCES: Nini Harris, Legacy of Lions, The Historical Society of University City, 1981 Sue Rehkopf, U. City historian Tim Fox, Where We Live: A Guide to St. Louis Communities, Missouri Historical Society Press, 1995 Courtesy Missouri Historical Society Courtesy Missouri Historical Society City Hall and Lion, 1940. A view of Delmar Blvd. west of Melville Ave., 1935. EXPERT CRAFTSMAN IN REPAIR AND RESTORATION OF SLATE AND TILE ROOFING SYSTEMS.