Chuck Berry’s one-time home to be museum

ST. LOUIS ( AP) — St. Louis is planning to convert Chuck Berry's one-time home into a museum and to create a cultural district around it honoring the rock 'n' roll legend and other prominent African Americans who have lived in that part of the city.

The city recently solicited bids for the project, which will be centered around the home at 3137 Whittier St. in north St. Louis where Berry lived for eight years in the 1950s. During that time, he wrote many of his biggest hits, including "Maybelline," ''Roll Over Beethoven," ''Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Johnny B. Goode."

The museum would anchor a "Chuck Berry Cultural District," to honor Berry, who died in March at age 90, and the area's African-American heritage.

The neighborhood known as "The Greater Ville" was among the few areas of segregated St. Louis where blacks could own property in the early to mid1950s. It was home to many famous figures in addition to Berry, including singers Josephine Baker and Tina Turner, comedian Dick Gregory and tennis star Arthur Ashe. Berry, a lifelong resident of St. Louis, moved from the onestory red brick home in 1958, but he continued to perform regularly at a club not far from his 1950s home until shortly before his death.