SAINT LOUIS, Mo. — St. Louis' century-old Chinatown will soon be honored with a street renaming project.
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen voted Friday to pass an ordinance authorizing the honorary street name "On Leong Way." The bill will now head to Mayor Tishaura Jones' desk for final approval.
The renaming will happen for the portion of 8th Street between Market and Walnut streets, across from Ballpark Village.
This comes after a series of 5 On Your Side news reports about the history of Chinatown and making Alderwoman Cara Spencer aware of the rich history in her downtown district, which she recently took over when the city redistricted areas at the last election.
Chinatown in St. Louis was a thriving yet small district that sat on one city block from 1869 until 1966. It was destroyed for a baseball stadium project and sat empty as a parking lot for more than a decade, displacing a community. Many of the stories of historic Chinatown have been recaptured by the Missouri Historical Society and volunteers from the Asian-American community.
Spencer had never heard of the Chinatown but was more than eager to recognize its rich history. In early May when she introduced Board Bill 32, she said she couldn't believe that some sort of recognition hadn't happened already.
"I'm hoping that with this effort, we can not only educate our policymakers but provide some signage and really some historical markers that can educate the general public on what was here," Spencer said. "And to help imagine that history."
Since then, the board bill has moved through committee and picked up at least 12 fellow sponsors, including Alderman Bret Narayan, the city's first elected Asian-American alderman in history.
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