Mullanphy Community Drive

A group of city supporters met yesterday at the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group office to continue the effort to restore the Mullanphy Emigrant Home. It's going to take a lot more than music lessons to raise the kind of dollars necessary to rebuild the storm damaged south wall of the building.

The estimated cost to rebuild the wall is over $100,000. To date, the Old North St. Louis Restoration Group has raised approximately $15,000. We're making good progress, but we still have a long way to go.

There's the immediate priority to stabilize the building from further damage. And then there's the long range work to develop the property for its permanent reuse. We're working to raise awareness of the Mullanphy building, its significance to St. Louis, its important role in the revitalization of the Old North neighborhood, and its potential as a rallying point to connect St. Louisans who share a love for our city and want to be active in our city's rebirth.

We need to expand the base of this effort by forming a coalition of partners around this project. We need to come up with a name for the group. Suggestions welcome. The coalition will connect people and organizations across neighborhood and ward boundaries, north and south city, and beyond the city limits.

We are reaching out to individuals and organizations to join this effort. We need a name for our group. We meet again next week. Any recommendations for possible coalition names to take back to the committee?