Southampton Neighborhood Overview

Location

Located in Southwest City, Southampton is bound by Chippewa to the north, south Kingshighway to the east, Eichelberger to the south, and Hampton to the west.

History

Southampton was a mixture of farms and estates that remained rural in character through the nineteenth century, despite conversion of the Christy Estate to the east into clay mines. Everard Horton's farm occupied most of Southampton. Devonshire is named after his original hometown in England, and there are other English-derived street names.

With the extension of the Cherokee and new Southampton streetcar lines, a small business strip and subdivision platting resulted about the loop at Macklind and Devonshire in the early twentieth century. Wherry Avenue, cutting Southampton's blocks diagonally, is actually the former location of the creek by the same name.

The amelioration of the automobile and layout of St. Louis Hills nearby resulted in post-war commercial growth along Hampton. Along this booming new strip, Hampton Village Market opened as a unique venue with off-street parking and one-stop shopping. Since its opening in 1939, subsequent buildings have been added and later renovated, all in the uniquely colonial-style that now defines the Hampton-Chippewa Business Association.