Asturian-American Migration Forum

Greetings everyone - this site was a very welcome find! I was doing a little research on the Asturian migration to the USA in the early 1900's when I came across it.

My name is Stephen Menendez, and my paternal family migrated to St Louis, MO around the turn of the century (1900). Recently, some of my cousins have been working on the genealogy of the family. They have pretty good records of the family, but with some vague results (it's interesting to see how many "Joseph" and "Mary" Menendez family members were in the St Louis, MO area). As a result, many of them had nicknames to differentiate them from the other people of virtually the same name.

Anyway, I just thought I'd take this chance to check in and say hello from Missouri.

Steve.

Welcome, Steve! We'd be interested in hearing more about the current status or past history of Asturians in the St Louis area!

There are a large number of descendants of the initial migration still in the St Louis area.

Most have moved away from the Carondelet area of the city where they originally settled. There is still a "Spanish Society" building in the 7100 block of Michigan Avenue in the neighborhood, but it is nothing like the "Old Days" as I'm told.

The city neighborhood where the Asturians first settled has changed significantly over the years, as has much of St Louis. The once tight-knit community is sadly not a place that many would choose to live now. I won't say that crime is "rampant" in the neighborhood (there were 2 shootings in the neighborhood in the past 3 days), but it's not a place that you would want your grandmother to live.

Some of the older generation (and a few younger, I'm sure) still live in the Carondelet neighborhood, but most have moved away into the broader St Louis Metropolitan area.

Steve.

Thanks for the report, Steve. I'm sure that many of the places our grandparents first lived in the US have experienced similar declines.

Have you visited the Spanish Society?