Where is North County: redefining the NOCO coverage area
Shannon Howard | Aug 02, 2010 | Comments 13
Where does North County begin and end? Read on and find out!
A few years ago, a local company drummed up tons of faux controversy when it printed t-shirts that read, “North County is Dangerous.” Hands were wrung. Fingers were wagged. Politicians made the news.
But for those of us who actually know North County (unlike the shirt printers), the whole thing was really pretty silly. Because if NoCo is anything, it’s not dangerous, it’s HUGE. As in, far too large and spread out to be lumped into one single description.
North County is so vast and diverse, with myriad municipalities and more than 330,000 residents, that even people who live here are not certain of the area’s boundaries. I know that because many of these folks have emailed me.
Since launching NOCO almost a year ago, dozens of readers have written to ask me if their neighborhood is actually in North County. Seriously. That may sound funny to someone who lives in the heart of the community (say, Florissant) but the further south and west you go, a lot of people just aren’t sure. Or they’re sure they don’t want to be called North County.
Like Overland. I get the message, Overland. You’re located in MID-COUNTY. Roger. And Maryland Heights, yes I know. You’re practically Chesterfield. But Bel-Nor and St. Ann…not so fast!
Officially, NOCO covers the following zip codes: 63031, 63033, 63034, 63044, 63074, 63114, 63121, 63134, 63135, 63136, 63137, 63138 and 63140. But to help clear up some confusion, I recently updated my original coverage map and, as you may notice if you click the image below, I moved the borders slightly inward on the south and west. I also broke North County into three distinct areas:
“NoCo North” (in yellow) is what I consider classic North County – Florissant, Spanish Lake and most of the areas comprising the original St. Ferdinand Township. These are the communities with rich frontier-era histories and/or a strong connection to the river. This is also where you’ll find homes and farms on substantial acreage, especially around Old Jamestown.
“NoCo West” (in pink) includes cities like Bridgeton and Hazelwood and is sometimes called Northwest County. The big landmark here is Lambert Airport, followed by St. Charles Rock Road, (what was) Northwest Plaza and scores of post-war subdivisions.
“NoCo Central” (in green) is all about inner-ring suburbs – Ferguson, Normandy and all the North County locales not far from the city of St. Louis border. This is where the suburban boom began, with most of the houses built between 1890 and 1950, so it’s also where you’ll find loads of unique vintage architecture.
In general, North County is bordered by the Missouri River on the north, the Mississippi River and the city line on the east, and roughly St. Charles Rock Road on the south and west. But that last one is just my opinion (with help from the good people of Overland).
So, NOCO readers….which part of this big ol’ community do you call home?
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Filed Under: Community
Are you getting ready for the big day? NOCO is a proud sponsor of the 3rd annual Live Well Ferguson 5K
I wouldn’t consider anything south of I-70 to be NOCO. When I had to explain to my Columbian husband what exactly North County was, I used I-70 as the dividing line.
You can almost use school district boundaries. Ferg-Flor, Riverview, Hazelwood and Jennings are North County school districts. I would not include Pattonville, Ritenour or Normandy.
So UMSL isn’t North County? Or Thies Farm? I disagree. I went to high school in Bel-Nor and probably 98% of the students were from NoCo. You’ll also see countless Normandy-area residents at the Ferguson Farmers Market and other local events. And here in Ferguson, I share a county councilperson with Northwoods, Normandy, etc.
But I know what you mean. My husband grew up in Bel-Ridge and says he always felt sort of torn – not exactly North County, not exactly Mid-County. But for NOCO purposes, I say he’s in the fold…
Good – thanks for publishing! Now I can respond to your “My NoCo Neighborhood” article with info on Greendale.
Awesome! I’d love hear more about Greendale! I had a friend who lived on Greendale Dr for years, and I drove by recently and his house had been beautifully rehabbed. LOVE this secret little neighborhood with a perfect view of the magnificent St. Vincent’s!
It has taken me a while to get used to the quirks of St. Louis (19 years here, originally from NW Indiana by Chicago).
But I have easily adjusted to NoCo. The extreme politeness and friendliness of NoCo is delightful!
I have gone to Chesterfield to pick up something from a friend’s house and been SHOCKED at the rudeness of drivers. I won’t shop at West Co Center-more rudeness.
Yes, I have to agree that after living in metro east, west co, mid county and STL city, NOCO is the friendliest part of town!
I also feel torn because I’ve always felt that 70 was the southern edge of NOCO, or at least the easiest major dividing line. But I live a whopping 5 blocks south of 70, so close enough!
“”I would not include Pattonville, Ritenour or Normandy.”"
But these schools are in the Suburban NORTH conference. Everything north of St. Charles Rock Road is very much North County. Not to mention that a good chunk of those zip codes are zoned to Ritenour and Normandy. You have shrunk the map quite a bit with that statement.
I grew up in 63134, and had to stop conversations due to airplanes flying overhead while the windows rattled. Can’t get more NoCo than that . . .
By the way, Kudos for the site. Great stuff about a great part of town.
I think St. Louis County and St. Louis City should merge and NOCO should become a borough. 5 boroughs St. Louis City, North County, South County, West County Central County (inner ring suburbs). The cities would become neighborhoods in their respective boroughs.
I use this pic as a rough guide http://genealogyinstlouis.accessgenealogy.com/scharftownships.jpg
NOCO for me is north of I-70.
SOCO is south of I-44(50).
WestCo is bordered by everything west of I-270 South of I-70 and North of I-44.
The City is obviously the city and keeps its same borders.
Central County in is everything west of the city, east of I-270, South of I-70, North of I-44 (50)
I don’t have any names for my boroughs though lol.
http://www.stlworldclasscity.com/
http://stlunite.org/
^Good websites promoting a unified government.
^unified region*
‘unified government’ seems to scare county folks
I mostly agree with your map. I grew up in St. Ann – and it’s always been considered North County. I also would include Overland – having gone to school with many people who grew up in Overland, I’d say they always ID’d with North County. Ditto with Bridgeton.
I wouldn’t include Maryland Heights, although geographically, it would seem it’s in the northern part of the county. But culturally, I’d say it seems a part of West County.
I just seem to think of North County as dipping further south than most people – probably because I connect it with the schools’ athletic conference – the Suburban North, which includes Pattonville & Ritenour.
Also when I worked for the North County Journal, it delivered to (and covered) Overland – and the myriad of small communities near it – St. Ann, Bridgeton – but Maryland Heights was part of the West County Journal.
Anything North of I-70 definitely belongs in my mind – including Earth City.
Joe, I initially included Overland in my coverage area. But time and again, when I’d try to do a story over there, the residents and business owners kept telling me they are NOT North County. They want to be thought of as Mid-County.
And Maryland Heights…they call themselves West County on their website, so they have never been included in the NOCO coverage area.