Thanksgiving 2017 Part 2

St. Louis

The Midwestern city of St. Louis has a long history and vibrant culture. It is a major port in the state of Missouri and it's fond on the western bank of the Mississippi River. It is a city that borders Illinois. It has over 310,000 people and its metropolitan area has almost 3 million people. St. Louis has a diverse history too. Like other Midwestern cities, it has a culture that is diverse filled with immigrants, black people, great art, excellent cuisine, and lively institutions. Like other cities, it was once a depot of segregation and other injustices that courageous people in St. Louis fought to end. It is a city with gorgeous architecture and down to Earth human beings. From 1764 (when it was founded by the French fur traders Pierre Laclède and Auguste Chouteau. The city was named after the King Louis IX of France) to the present, St. Louis is filled with a history of development and growth. St. Louis has the Forest Park Jewel Box, MetroLink, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Gateway Arch, etc. The economy of St. Louis deals with service, manufacturing, trade, transportation of goods, and tourism. Many corporations are in the metro area of St. Louis like Anheuser-Busch, Express Scripts, Boeing Defense, Scottrade, Go Jet, etc. It has a large medical, pharmaceutical, and research presence too. Its current mayor is Lyda Krewson. It is a city of 66 square miles. To the East of St. Louis is found East St. Louis, Illinois. South of St. Louis include Cahokia and Columbia (which are both found in Illinois). North of St. Louis are Castle Point and Jennings (both found in Missouri). Ferguson and Florissant are found northwest of St. Louis. Clayton, Chesterfield, and Richmond Heights are found to the West of St. Louis. It's a home to architects, musicians, social activists, teachers, other scholars, scientists, engineers, doctors, nurses, athletes, lawyers, judges, politicians, and other contributors to society. St. Louis is here to stay and we will always respect the great culture and the great people of St. Louis, Missouri.

Early St. Louis

St. Louis has a long history. In the beginning, the first people of St. Louis were Native Americans. Native Americans built the complex, highly advanced Mound builder civilization.  The people of the Mississippian culture created more than two dozen burial mounds around the area of the city of St. Louis. These mounds existed in ca. 1050 A.D. Some settlements of early St. Louis are preserved at the Cahokia Mounds site in Illinois. The mounds in St. Louis were almost all demolished. Only one mound remains within the city called Sugarloaf Mound. Although, St. Louis maintained the nickname of “The Mound City” well into the 19th century. Many Native Americans settled along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, especially the Missouri River. Many Native Americans created canoes for transportation out of the large forests in the region. The end of the Mississippian culture by the 14th century resulted in a new era of history in the area. There were French Canadian settlers and Siouan speaking groups like the Missouri and the Osage migrating into the Missouri valley. They lived in villages along the Osage and Missouri rivers. Both groups had conflict with the northeastern tribes like the Sauk and the Fox. All four of these groups confronted the earliest explorers of Missouri. Europeans explored the area almost a century before the city of St. Louis was officially founded. By the early 1670’s, Jean Talon, went along the Mississippi River after hearing of rumors that it connected to the Pacific Ocean. So, explorer Louis Joliet and Jesuit priest Jacques Marquette came into the Mississippi River on June 1673. They traveled past the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi to the mouth of the Arkansas River. At this point Joliet returned north after determining the river would not reach the Pacific and fearing attack by Spanish settlers. Nine years later, the French explorer La Salle led an expedition south from the Illinois River to the mouth of the Mississippi. He claimed the entire valley for France.

La Salle named the Mississippi river basin Louisiana after King Louis XIV. That region was between and near the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi was named Illinois Country. Many forts existed in the Mississippi valley. In 1699, the French built a settlement on the east bank of the Mississippi at Cahokia, Illinois, near the Cahokia Mounds complex. During the next year, the Kaskaskia tribe formed a village at a small river. It was within the present day area of St. Louis. There were two Jesuit priests, Pierre-Gabriel Marest and Francois Pinet, who built a small mission at the site, naming the river the River Des Peres (River of the Fathers). However, by 1703 the site was abandoned as the Kaskaskia moved to the east bank and further south to a new settlement named Kaskaskia, Illinois. A powerful monopoly involving trade was sent to Antoine Crozat in the Mississippi Valley. He wanted to find and mine precious stones, gold, and silver. Yet, Crozat’s venture failed by 1717, because of Spanish interference. He relinquished his charter. The next company to be granted a trade monopoly for the region was led by John Law. Law was a Scottish financier. In 1717, Law convinced Louis XIV to provide the Company of the West a 25-year monopoly of trade and ownership of all mines, while promising to settle 6,000 whites and 3,000 black slaves (as a way to build churches throughout the region). The company founded New Orleans as the capital of Louisiana in 1718, and merged with other companies in 1719 to form the Company of the Indies. There was a financial crisis. Law was ousted in 1720. The Company of the Indies formed its capital of the Illinois Country (in upper Louisiana) at Fort de Chartres. That location was 15 miles north of Kaskaskia on the east bank of the Mississippi.

There was another early settlement. It was near present day St. Louis. It was called Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. It was built in 1732 across from the Kaskaskia village as a convenient port for salt and ore was mined on the western side of the Mississippi. The Company of the Indies began making trade ties with the Missouri River tribes during the early 1720’s and the 1730’s. French economic policy dealt with trade with the Spanish colony of New Mexico to the southwest. Many trade expeditions between New Mexico and the Mississippi valley occurred between 1739 and the Seven Years’ War of 1756-1763. The war destroyed the wealth of many French trading firms and merchants based in New Orleans. The French governor of Louisiana began granting trade monopolies in several areas at the conclusion of the war to stimulate growth.

The founding of St. Louis

The St. Louis founding existed during the 18th century. Jean-Jacques Blaise d’Abbadie was the new governor of Louisiana in June of 1763. He changed colonial policies. He moved to grant trade monopolies in the middle Mississippi Valley to stimulate the economy. Among the new monopolists was Pierre Laclede, who along with his stepson Auguste Chouteau set out in August 1763 to build a fur trading post new the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. The settlement of St. Louis was established at a site south of the confluence of the west bank of the Mississippi on February 15, 1764, by Chouteau and a group of about 30 men. Laclede arrived at the side by mid-1764 and provided detailed plans for the village, including a street grid and market area. French settlers started to arrive form settlements on the east bank of the Mississippi River in 1764. They were afraid of British control. This was after the transfer of eastern land to Great Britain after the Treaty of Paris. The local French lieutenant governor moved into St. Louis in 1765. He started to award land grants to people.

There were peace negotiations to end the Seven Years’ War. It caused Spain to gain control of Louisiana according to the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau in 1762. Due to travel times and the Louisiana Rebellion of 1768, the Spanish took official control in St. Louis only in May 1770. After the transfer, the Spanish confirmed French land grants and the Spanish provided local security. Most settlers in St. Louis were involved in farming. By the 1790’s, almost 6,000 acres were cultivated around St. Louis. Far trading was the major commercial focus of many residents. It was much more lucrative than agriculture during that period. The residents were not religious per se, but most of them were Roman Catholic. Most French people in America during that time were Roman Catholic. The first Catholic Church in St. Louis was built in mid-1770 and St. Louis had a resident priest by 1776. It caused Catholic religious observance a more customary component of life. The French settlers had both black and Native American slaves in St. Louis. Most of them worked as domestic servants. Some were agricultural laborers.

By 1769, the Spanish prohibited Native American slavery in Louisiana. Yet, it was still done among the French Creoles in St. Louis. Spanish governors ended the Native American slave trade. Yet, they allowed the retention of current slaves and any children born to them, which was evil. In 1772, a census determined the population of the village to be 637, including 444 whites (285 males and 159 females) and 193 African slaves, with no Indian slaves reported due to their technical illegality.  During the 1770's and 1780's, St. Louis grew slowly and the Spanish commanders were replaced often. During the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, the Spanish governor Bernardo de Galvez (in New Orleans) helped the American rebels with weapons, food, blankets, tents, and ammunition. The Spanish lieutenant governors at St. Louis aided the colonists too. They especially helped the forces of George Rogers Clark during the Illinois campaign. On June 1779, the Spanish Empire came into the American Revolutionary War on the side of the Americans and the French. The British prepared to invade St. Louis and other Mississippi outposts. Yet, St. Louis was warned of the plans and residents fortified the town. On May 26, 1780, British and Indian forces attacked the town of St. Louis, but were forced to retreat due to the fortifications and defections of some Indian forces.

 

In spite of their defeat, the British and their allies destroyed much of St. Louis' agricultural lands and cattle stock, killed 23 residents, wounded 7, and captured between 25 and 75 as prisoners (some might have been murdered after their capture). A subsequent counterattack launched from St. Louis against British forts in the Midwest ended the threat of another attack on the town. After the British were defeated, more French Creole families evaded Anglo-American rule by moving to the Spanish-controlled land on the west bank, including wealthy merchants Charles Gratiot, Sr. and Gabriel Cerre. Both the Gratiot and Cerre families intermarried with the Chouteau family to create a Creole-dominated society in the 1780's and 1790's. The families also had marital ties to Spanish government officials, including the lieutenant governors Piernas and Cruzat. During the 1790’s, towns near St. Louis grew. This was when small farmers sold their lands to the Cerres, Gratiots, Soulards, and the Chouteaus. These farmers moved into towns like Carondelet, St. Charles, and Florissant. Only 43% of the district’s population lived within the village by 1800 (1,039 of 2,447). The Spanish government secretly returned the unprofitable Louisiana territory to France in October of 1800 in the Treaty of San Ildefonso. The Spanish officially transferred control in October 1802. Yet, the Spanish administrators were in charge of St. Louis throughout the time of French ownership. Later, a team of American negotiators purchased Louisiana, including St. Louis. On March 8 or 9, 1804, the flag of Spain was lowered at the government buildings in St. Louis and, according to local tradition; the flag of France was raised. On March 10, 1804, the French flag was replaced by that of the United States.

 

This picture shows an evil slave auction in a St. Louis courthouse. Black people, many German immigrants, and others were strongly anti-slavery in St. Louis. 

The Antebellum period

By the antebellum period, St. Louis experienced many changes. The governor of the Indiana Territory by the beginning of the 1800’s governed Louisiana District (which included St. Louis). The district’s organizational law forbade the slave trade and reduced the influence of St. Louis in the region. Wealthy St. Louisans petitioned Congress to review the system. By July of 1805, Congress reorganized the Louisiana District as the Louisiana territory with its territorial capital at St. Louis and its own territorial governor. From the division of the Louisiana Territory in 1812 to Missouri statehood in 1821, St. Louis was the capital of the Missouri Territory. St. Louis’ population grew slowly after the Louisiana Purchase. Yet, the expansion increased desire to incorporate St. Louis as a town. This allowed it to create local ordinances without the approval of the territorial legislature. On November 27, 1809, the first Board of Trustees was elected. The Board passed slave codes. It formed a volunteer fire department. It also formed an overseer to improve street quality. The Board enforced the town ordinances by creating the St. Louis Police Department and a town jail was established in the fortifications built for the Battle of St. Louis. After the end of the War of 1812, the population of St. Louis and the Missouri Territory began expanding quickly. During this expansion, land was donated for the Old St. Louis County Courthouse. The population increase stirred interest in statehood for Missouri. By 1820, Congress passed the disgraceful Missouri Compromise. This authorized Missouri admission as a slave state, which was evil. The state constitutional convention and first General Assembly met ion St. Louis in 1820. St. Louis was incorporated as a city on December 9, 1822. The first mayor the St. Louis was William Carr Lane. He was a Board of Aldermen, who replaced the earlier Board of Trustees. Early city government focused on improvements to the riverfront and health conditions. There was a street paving program and the aldermen voted to rename the streets. 

After the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, the Spanish ended subsidies to the Catholic Church in St. Louis. As a result of this, Catholics in St. Louis had no resident priest until the arrival of Louis Williams Valentine Dubourg in early January 1818. When he arrived in St. Louis, he replaced the original log chapel with a brick church, recruited priests, and established a seminary. By 1826, a separate St. Louis diocese was created. Joseph Rosati became the first bishop in 1827. Protestants had received services from itinerant ministers in the late 1790’s, but the Spanish required them to move into American territory until after the Louisiana Purchase. After the purchase, the Baptist missionary John Mason Peck built the first Baptist church in St. Louis in 1818. Methodist ministers reached town during the early years after the purchase, but only formed a congregation in 1821. The Presbyterian Church in St. Louis began as a Bible reading society in 1811 and in December 1817 members organized a church and built a chapel late the next year. A fourth Protestant group who took root was the Episcopal Church, founded in 1825. During the 1830s and 1840s, other faith groups also came to St. Louis, including the first Jewish congregation in the area, the United Hebrew Congregation, which was organized in 1837. Followers of Mormonism arrived in 1831, and in 1854, they organized the first LDS church in St. Louis. Despite these events, during the pre-Civil War era most of the population were culturally Catholic or uninterested in organized religion.

St. Louis back then focused on the fur trade. Operations in St. Louis involving this trade were led by the Chouteau family and its alliance with the Osages and by Manuel Lisa and his Missouri Fur Company. Due to its role as a major trading post, the city was the departure point of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1804. American and other immigrant families began arriving in St. Louis and opening new businesses. These businesses were printing and banking which started in the 1810’s. Among the printers were Joseph Charless. He published the first newspaper west of the Mississippi, the Missouri Gazette on July 12, 1808. In 1816 and 1817, groups of merchants formed the first banks in town, but mismanagement and the Panic of 1819 led to their closure. The effect of the Panic of 1819 and subsequent depression did slow commercial activity in St. Louis until the mid-1820’s. St. Louis businesses started to recover by 1824 and 1825. This was done largely as a product of the introduction of the steamboat. It first arrived in St. Louis by August 2, 1817. Its name was the Zebulon M. Pike. Rapids north of the city made St. Louis the northernmost navigable port for many large riverboats and the Pike and other ships soon transformed St. Louis into a massive inland port.  More goods became available in St. Louis during the economic recovery. This was because of the new steamboat power. Wholesalers, new banks, and other retail stores opened starting during the late 1820’s and early 1830’s. The fur trade was a big industry in the area into the 1830’s. By 1822, Jedediah Smith joined William H. Ashley’s St. Louis fur trading company. Smith would later be known for his explorations of the West and for being the first European American to travel overland to California. New fur trade companies like the Rocky Mountain Fur Company pioneered trails west. Although beaver fur lost its popularity in the 1840’s, St. Louis continued as a hub of buffalo hide and other furs. 

 There was the construction of the County Courthouse during the late 1820’s. St. Louis grew in an addition of western lots to Ninth Street and a new Hall adjacent to the river in 1833. The military post far north of the city at Fort Bellefontaine moved nearer to the city to Jefferson Barracks in 1827, and the St. Louis Arsenal was built in south St. Louis the same year. The 1830s included dramatic population growth: by 1830, it had increased to 5,832 from roughly 4,500 in 1820. By 1835, it reached 8,316, doubled by 1840 to 16,439, doubled again by 1845 to 35,390, and again by 1850 to 77,860. The rapid population growth in part caused cholera to be a significant problem in St. Louis. By 1849, there was a major cholera epidemic that killed nearly 5,000 people. This caused the creation of a new sewer system and the draining of a mill pond. Cemeteries were removed to the outskirts of Bellefontaine Cemetery and Calvary Cemetery to reduce groundwater contamination. In the same year, a large fire broke out on a steamboat on the levee. It spread to 23 other boats. It destroyed a large section of the city. The St. Louis landing was significantly improved during the 1850’s. Using the engineering planning of Robert E. Lee, levees were constructed on the Illinois side to direct water toward Missouri to eliminate sand bars that threatened the landing. Another infrastructure improvement was the city's water system, which was begun in the early 1830s and was continually improved and expanded in the 1840’s and 1850’s.

 

By the 1810’s, most early St. Louisans were illiterate. Many wealthy merchants purchased books for private libraries. Early St. Louis schools were fee based. Most of them conducted lessons in French. The first substantial educational effort came about under the authority of the Catholic Church. By 1818, it opened Saint Louis Academy, later renamed Saint Louis University. In 1832, the college applied for a state charter, and in December 1832, it became the first chartered university west of the Mississippi River. Its medical school opened in 1842, with faculty that included Daniel Brainard (founder of Rush Medical College), Moses Linton (founder of the first medical journal west of the Mississippi River in 1843), and Charles Alexander Pope (later president of the American Medical Association).  However, the university primarily catered to seminary students rather than the general public, and only in the 1840's did the Catholic Church offer large scale instruction at parochial schools.  In 1853, William Greenleaf Eliot founded a second university in the city – Washington University in St. Louis.  During the 1850's Eliot founded Smith Academy for boys and Mary Institute for girls, which later merged and became Mary Institute and St. Louis Country Day School.

Public education in St. Louis back then was provided by the St. Louis Public Schools. It started in 1838. They had 2 elementary schools. The system expanded greatly during the 1840’s. By 1854, the system had 27 schools and served almost 4,000 students. It opened a high school to fanfare by 1855. The high school was called Central VPA High School. It was the first public high school west of the Mississippi River. In 1860, nearly 12,000 students had enrolled in the district. The district also opened a normal school in 1857, which later became Harris-Stower State University. Entertainment options increased during the pre-Civil War period. In early 1819, the first theater production was opened in St. Louis. There was a musical accompaniment too. In the late 1830’s, a 35 member orchestra briefly played in St. Louis and in 1860, another orchestra opened that played more than 60 concerts throughout 1870. 

The image to right shows the Commercial District, St. Louis, Missouri. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

The Civil War

Before the Civil War, Missouri was a slave state. By the 1840’s, the number of slaves increased, but their percentage relative to the population declined. During the 1850’s, both the number and percentage declined. There were about 3,200 free black people and slaves living in St. Louis in 150. They worked domestic servants, artisans, crew on the riverboats and stevedores. Some slaves were allowed to earn wages and some were able to save money to purchase their freedom or that of their relatives. Others were manumitted, which happened more frequently in St. Louis than in the surrounding rural area. Others tried to escape via the Underground Railroad or attempted to gain their freedom via freedom suits. The first freedom suit in St. Louis was filed by Marguerite Scypion in 1805. More than 300 suits were filed in St. Louis before the Civil War. Among the most famous case was that of Dred Scott and his wife Harriet. This was a case heard at the Old Courthouse. The suit was based on their having traveled and lived with their slave-owner in free states. Although the state ruled in his favor, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court resulted in an 1857 ruling against them. The court ruled that slaves could not be counted as citizens, which is a racist decision.

The ruling overturned the basis of the Missouri Compromise and it inflamed national debates about slavery. Economic expansion of the 1830’s caused Irish and Germany immigrants to come into St. Louis in a higher level. The writings of Gottfried Duden encouraged German immigration. Many Irish were motivated by the Irish potato famine of 1845-1846. There was the failed Irish uprising of 1848 too. Other Irish settlers came because of St. Louis’ reputation as a Catholic city. Nativist sentiment increased in St. Louis during the late 1840’s. Nativism is bigotry against an immigrant. There were mob attacks and riots in 1844, 1849, and 1852 over nativist views. The 1844 riots derived from popular outrage and resentment toward human dissection, which was then taking place at the Saint Louis University Medical College. The discovery of human remains prompted rumors of grave robbing, and a mob of more than 3,000 residents attacked the medical college, destroying most of its interior facilities.  The worst nativist riot in St. Louis took place in 1854. The local militia was used to end the fighting. 10 people were killed, 33 wounded, and 93 buildings were damaged. Regulations on elections prevented fighting in future elections in 1856 and 1858.

Before the Civil War, the core of St. Louis leadership shifted from the Creole and Irish families to a new group. This group was dominated by anti-slavery Germans. Among this new class of leaders was Frank P. Blair Jr. He led an effort to create a local militia loyal to the Union after Missouri Governor Claiborne Fox Jackson hinted about secession. The local militia allied itself with the Union army forces at Jefferson Barracks under the leadership of Nathaniel Lyon. On May 10, 1861, Lyon cleared a Confederate encampment outside the city in which would become known as the Camp Jackson Affair. While the Confederates were being marched back into town, a group of citizens attacked the Union and militia forces, costing 28 civilian lives. Throughout the entirety of the Civil War, St. Louis was under pressure as it was considered a city on the borderline. Though many people were confident in abolition, many were concerned about the economic effect of losing their free work force. In addition, St. Louis was still a developing city, and so a war could lead to utter destruction and ruin. However, with all the necessity of ammunition, St. Louis survived and transformed into a leader among cities. 

After the Camp Jackson Affair, there were no more military threats to Union control until 1864, although guerrilla activity continued in rural areas for the duration of the war. Union General John C. Frémont placed the city under martial law in August 1861 to suppress sedition; after Fremont's dismissal, Union army forces continued to suppress pro-Confederate demonstrations. The war significantly damaged St. Louis commerce, especially after the Confederacy blockaded the Mississippi shutting off St. Louis's connection to eastern markets. War also slowed growth during the 1860s, with an increase of only 43,000 residents from 1860 to 1866. 

Its Growth

 After 1866, St. Louis experienced rapid growth. St. Louis increased so much that it became the fourth largest city in America back then after New York City, Philadelphia, and Chicago. St. Louis grew its infrastructure fast. Its transportation and heavy industry grew. During the Civil War, the infrastructure of St. Louis suffered because of neglect. There was another cholera epidemic in 1866 and typhoid fever existed in areas. That cholera epidemic killed more than 3,500 people. This caused the forming of the St. Louis Board of Health. This organization gave power to create and enforce sanitary regulation and monitor the actions of many polluting industries. There was a new waterworks being formed in north St. Louis in 1871 in order to hand water problems. There was a large reservoir at Compton Hill and a standpipe at Grand Avenue. Yet, water quality problems existed due to high demand and the dumping of waste upriver from the waterworks. The gas light system also saw improvements during the 1870’s when the Laclede Gaslight Company was formed to serve the south side of the city. By the early 1870’s, new industries grew in St. Lois. There was the cotton compressing devises which used raw cotton to be compressed for easier shipment. By 1880, St. Louis had the third largest raw cotton market in America. Most of it was transported by railroad. The Cotton Belt Railroad (which was created in St. Louis in 1879) from smaller lines that connected the region to cotton producers in Texas. St. Louis’ parks grew in St. Louis from the 1860’s to the 1870’s. Lafayette Park existed in 1868 and Tower Grove Park existed in 1868 (by Henry Shaw donating land). One park in 1876 was said to be integrated, but Jim Crow laws restricted the use of the park by African Americans.

After the Civil War, property values were used to fund schools. School taxes increased. Public and parochial school expanded from 24,347 students in public schools and 4,362 students in parochial schools. By the 1870’s, William Torrey Harris’s discipline and curriculum focused on rigorous obedience and training in grammar, philosophy, and mathematics was adopted by St. Louis schools. Harris also promoted kindergarten in America. Susan Blow promoted it in 1874. Kindergarten back then was very popular in St. Louis. It served about 7,800 students by the end of the 1870’s. Segregated schools for African Americans started in the 1820’s by ministers John Mason Peck and John Berry Meachum. Yet, these schools were closed by the local police. Local black churches opened schools since they ran them secretly and Missouri legislature banned education for free black people in St. Louis before the Civil War. Starting in 1864, an integrated group of St. Louisans formed the Board of Education for Colored Schools, which established schools without public finances for more than 1500 pupils in 1865.

Black people fought for black high schools to be funded like Sumner High School. That was the first high school for black stude4nts west of the Mississippi. Inequality remained rampant in St. Louis schools. The Missouri Constitution of 1865 required municipalities to support black education; in response, the St. Louis Board of Education appropriated .2% of its budget for that purpose. However, this sum amounted to $500, meaning that facilities were quite poor; long walking distances from schools were common, and teacher salaries were roughly half of those in white schools. Railroads grew in St. Louis too. James B. Eads was a self-taught engineer who built structures like the bridge from the Missouri side. The Eads Bridge was finished in 1874, which was the first Mississippi River Bridge to St. Louis. Union Station was built in 1894 to promote railroad service in St. Louis. By December 1876, there was the separation of St. Louis from St. Louis County. This made St. Louis an independent city.

St. Louis industrialized heavily in brewing, flour milling, slaughtering, machining, and tobacco processing. Paint, bricks, bag, and iron were other industries in St. Louis. The city grew during the 1880’s in its population from 350,518 to 451,770, making it the country's fourth largest city; it also was fourth measured by value of its manufactured products, and more than 6,148 factories existed in 1890. The Panic of 1893 slowed manufacturing. The beer industry is historically known to be in existence in St. Louis. The two largest St. Louis brewers, Anheuser-Busch (the world's largest brewery) and Lemp Brewery, together produced 1.5 million barrels in 1900. St. Louis breweries also were innovators: Anheuser-Busch pioneered refrigerated railroad cars for beer transport and was the first company to market pasteurized bottled beer. There was pollution as a product of rapid industrialization.  Many people complained to the St. Louis Board of Health about decaying animals converted to products. There were noxious fumes being health hazards. One of the few health policies to be carried out began in 1880; in the new policy, nuisance regulations would be enforced strictly in some areas while little in others, thereby encouraging offending industries to concentrate in certain areas. Skyscrapers existed in 1892 with the Wainwight Building. Nikola Tesla conducted a public demonstration of his wireless lighting and power transmission system here in 1893. Addressing the National Electric Light Association, he showed "wireless lighting" in 1893 via lighting Geissler tubes wirelessly. Tesla proposed this wireless technology could incorporate a system for the telecommunication of information.

Ragtime composer Scott Joplin lived in St. Louis from 1901 to 1907. Blues music was found all over St. Louis. The home Joplin rented in 1900-1903 was recognized as a National Historic Landmark in 1976 and was saved from destruction by the local African American community. In 1983, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources made it the first state historic site in Missouri dedicated to the African American heritage After the Civil War, baseball was played. The baseball team the St. Louis Brown Stockings was founded in 1875. The Brown Stockings were a founding member of the National League and became a hometown favorite, defeating the Chicago White Stockings (later the Chicago Cubs) in their opener on May 6, 1875. However, the original Brown Stockings club closed in 1878, and an unrelated National League team with the same name was founded in 1882. This team changed its name multiple times, shortening to the Browns in 1883, then becoming the Perfectos in 1899, and settling on the St. Louis Cardinals in 1900. The 1904 World’s Fair took place in St. Louis. This comes 100 years after the Louisiana Purchase. The Government Building at the 1904 World’s Fair was held in St. Louis Forest Park. The infrastructure of St. Louis was modernized to make way for the World’s Fair. The fair celebrated American expansionism, which is a coded phrase for American imperialism. It showed exhibits of French fur trading and Eskimo including Filipino villages. Concurrently, the 1904 Summer Olympics were held in St. Louis, at what would become the campus of Washington University in St. Louis. Historical artifacts relating to St. Louis history were collected and exhibited by the Missouri Historical Society.

The early 20th century

During the early 1900’s, segregation continued. There were massive building programs. It involved developing residential neighborhoods and growing parks and playgrounds. The Parks Commissioner and former professional tennis player Dwight F. Davis continued to develop recreational locations. By the early 1910’s, he expanded tennis locations. There was a public 18 hole golf course in northwest Forest Park. The St. Louis Zoo existed during the 1910’s under the leadership of Mayor Henry Keil. The 1939 smog in St. Louis caused the ban on burning low quality coal back in December 1939. There was natural gas to heating homes and cleaner fuels in existence by the 1940’s. The 1904 St. Louis World Fair saw ballooning. The first airplane in St. Louis that flew was in 1909. More airfields existed. In 1925, Lambert Field expanded its facilities. The St. Louis primary airport today is Lambert Field. Jim Crow laws existed in St. Louis. Racism was prevalent just like in the American South. The St. Louis black community continued to work and fight for justice. They lived along the riverfront or near the railroad yards. Due to an influx of refugees from East St. Louis and the general effects of the Great Migration of blacks from the rural South to industrial cities, the black population of St. Louis increased more rapidly than the whole during the decade of 1910 to 1920. Many St. Louis German and Irish communities wanted neutrality when World War I commenced in 1914. Many Americans back then mistreated German St. Louisans because of the war. Some St. Louisans repressed elements of German culture. Many plants were closer to the Atlantic back then. After World War I, the nationwide prohibition of alcohol in 1919 brought heavy losses to the St. Louis brewing industry. Other industries, such as light manufacturing of clothing, automobile manufacturing, and chemical production, filled much of the gap, and St. Louis's economy was relatively diversified and healthy during the 1920’s. St. Louis suffered as much or more than comparable cities in the early years of the Great Depression. Manufacturing output fell by 57 percent between 1929 and 1933, slightly more than the national average of 55 percent, and output remained low until World War II. Unemployment during the Depression was high in most urban areas, and St. Louis was no exception (see table). Black workers in St. Louis, as in many cities, suffered significantly higher unemployment than their white counterparts. To aid the unemployed, the city allocated funds starting in 1930 toward relief operations. In addition to city relief aid, New Deal programs such as the Public Works Administration employed thousands of St. Louisans. Civic improvement construction jobs also reduced the number of persons on direct relief aid by the late 1930’s.

World War II and the suburbs

 St. Louis has a big role in World War II. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. St. Louis later prepared for war. They sent soldiers to protect local military and munitions installations. These installations include the St. Louis Army Ammunition Plant at Goodfellow and Bircher, Lambert Field, and the Curtiss-Wright aircraft factory. The St. Louis police protect bridges. Workers in military factories were checked to protect against sabotage. There were anti-civil liberty measures where there was the arrest or interrogation of German, Italian, and Japanese persons including naturalized citizens. Many local Japanese restaurants were closed, which was wrong. One Japanese man, who was the manager of the Bridlespur Hunt Club in Huntleigh, Missouri, was arrested. St. Louis labor leaders created boycotts of products created by the Axis Power. Bonfires were lit of Japanese made products. During the spring and summer of 1942, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) made several high-profile arrests or investigations in St. Louis, including one into a pastor in Chesterfield, Missouri who was accused of sedition for condemning lynchings and openly opposing the playing of the Star Spangled Banner in church. So, the FBI back then was attacking the freedom of speech. There was anti-Japanese racist sentiment throughout America during this time. Much money came to build up defense systems and infrastructure like bridges. The city had its first blackout on March 7, 1942. A second blackout, held in February 1943, was considerably more successful than the first, with 4 of 12 civil defense districts fully blacked out. The local branch of the federal Office of Civilian Defense enrolled 5,300 air raid wardens, 2,400 volunteer firefighters, and 3,000 volunteer police officers by April 1942. City building inspectors selected 200 sites as air raid shelters, enough to house 40,000 people, and local schools began preparing students for attack. The city and region also were protected by anti-aircraft guns, but mistakenly fired on civilian aircraft multiple times during the war. Atomic bomb research existed in St. Louis too.

Many vehicles that were used in the invasion of Normandy were created by the St. Louis Chevrolet factory. Many soldiers from St. Louis participated in World War II. One was Edward O’Hare. He grew up in St. Louis. He attended Western Military Academy in Alton, Illinois, followed by acceptance to the United States Naval Academy. During a combat flight in the Pacific in February 1942, O'Hare shot down five Japanese bombers that were on a run to attack the USS Lexington, for which he was awarded the Medal of Honor and a parade in St. Louis. St. Louis also was home to Wendell O. Pruitt, an African-American pilot who shot down three enemy aircraft and multiple ground targets in June 1944. St. Louis celebrated Pruitt's achievement by naming December 12, 1944 "Captain Wendell O. Pruitt Day.”  In addition, more than 5400 St. Louisans became casualties of the war, listed as either missing in action or killed in action. Products were rationed in St. Louis. The supplies rationed included tires, gasoline, and other material. St. Louis was the first U.S. city to have its war bond quota reached in 1942 and 1943. At the outbreak of war, African-American St. Louisans gained greater acceptance in industry than they had previously.

By the end of 1942, nearly 8,000 black men and women were hired in St. Louis industries, but employment discrimination remained a significant problem for the community. Most jobs in war factories were unskilled, although some factories, notably Scullin Steel, hired significant numbers of skilled black workers. The April 1943 municipal elections were significant for the civil rights movement, as the first African-American was elected to the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, Rev. Jasper C. Caston. In the same election, the first woman was elected to the Board, Clara Hempelmann. African Americans were allowed to eat at a city owned lunch counters in March of 1944. This came as a product of a city integration ordinance. St. Louis admitted its first black students in the fall of 1944 in St. Louis University. There was a sit in on May 18, 1944 to protest the black sailor being refused service in a downtown lunch counter. Other peaceful sit-ins were at Stix, Baer, and Fuller. Protesters were removed. Jim Crow didn’t end, but it was the start of the end of Jim Crow in St. Louis. Many German prisoners of war were in St. Louis and Italians in Weingarten, Missouri. They held with flooding preventing measures in Mississippi. After World War II ended, the American Legion was created in St. Louis. Many St. Louis people lost their jobs. There were economic problems. The GI Bill helped veterans own homes in St. Louis and St. Louis County. Later, there was a population exodus from St. Louis City. More people lived in the suburbs and St. Louis’ population declined.

German Jewish immigrants, who had mainly come to St. Louis in the decades after the Civil War, began moving to wealthy west end of St. Louis, while Eastern European Jewish immigrants began moving to areas in northwest St. Louis and into Wellston and University City, Missouri. Italians at first had congregated in a "Little Italy" located in the Columbus Square neighborhood, but starting in the 1910s and 1920s large numbers of Italians (primarily from Milan, Lombardy, and Piedmont) began moving to an area west of Kings highway and south of Forest Park, known as The Hill. This area, five miles from downtown, was distant enough from the city that the group maintained cultural identity and was relatively self-sufficient. After World War II, the neighborhood fell into decline, but it was revitalized through a neighborhood association effort starting in 1969 and remains an icon of Italian-American culture in St. Louis. Streetcars and railroad stations allowed more people to go into the suburbs. The suburbs developed with the national highway system and more people living from the Rust Belt (in the Northeast and Midwest) to the Sunbelt (in the south and west). The increase of automobile ownership caused suburbanization to grow too.

St. Louis' Civil Rights Movement

The long, unsung history of St. Louis’ Civil Rights Movement shows the inspirational power of black Americans. Since the founding of St. Louis in 1764, many people of black African descent were in St. Louis. Many were slaves and many were free black people. Back during French and Spanish colonial rule, black people lived in St. Louis. Many black settlers defended St. Louis from the British during the Revolutionary War during the Battle of Fort San Carlos. This took place on the Gateway Arch grounds. There were 10,000 slaves in Missouri by 1820. Many people opposed the disgraceful 1821 Missouri Compromise. There was a protest among free black people and white people against Missouri being a slave state back in 1819 (according to Judge Nathan B. Young). It is also very important to mention that Dred Scott lived in St. Louis. His wife stood by him and he was free before he passed away in September of 1858. His wife Harriet Scott lived to the time of June 17, 1876. Rev. John Berry Meachum helped to educate black children during the 19th century. One Freedom School teacher was a black woman named Elizabeth Keckley. She purchased her freedom in 1854. She wrote about her experiences in her book entitled, “Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slaves, and Four Years in the White House.” She was a seamstress in the White House, who created dresses for Mary Todd Lincoln (or Abraham Lincoln’s wife).

Many black people owned land in St. Louis throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Ester was a black woman who owned land. James Milton Turner was born a slave in St. Louis and he was freed as a child with his mother in 1843. He attended Oberlin College in Ohio (which was a famous college where African Americans graduated from back then) and, after the Civil War, became secretary of the Missouri Equal Rights League, campaigning to give blacks the right to vote. In 1870, Missouri accepted the 15th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, guaranteeing the right to vote. Turner died in 1915 and is buried in Father Dickson Cemetery in Crestwood. Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis and she fought for civil rights throughout her life. She was raised in the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood of St. Louis.

The African American-based St. Louis American newspaper was created by Judge Nathan B. Young and other African American businessmen (including Homer G. Phillips). It dealt with black issues and it was first published in 1928. It has won many awards in excellence involving journalism, design, and commitment to the community. There were the white terrorists who murdered and brutalized black people in the 1917 East St. Louis riots (in Illinois). Many black people fled into St. Louis via the bridges. The riot caused 39 black people to die and 9 whites to die too. In 1930, the St. Louis American newspaper started a "Buy Where You Can Work" campaign. This campaign was about both boycotting businesses that discriminated against black people and forming more economic empowerment in the African American community. Judge Nathan B. Young edited issues in the newspaper for decades. The newspaper gave people great information about African American contributions in St. Louis and the contributions of non-black people in the freedom struggle.

During the 1930’s, black people in the International Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters fought for labor rights. One African American union organizer and politicians involved in this effort was Theodore McNeal. He was the first elected African American to be in the Missouri Senate after he defeated Edward Hogan. He led the passage of the Fair Employment Practices Act in 1962. He supported the creation of the University of Missouri-St. Louis in 1964 and he helped to establish the passage of the state Civil Rights Code in 1965. He worked in the University of Missouri and received many honors and honorary degrees (from the University of Missouri, Lincoln University, and Lindenwood University). He lived and passed away on October 25, 1982. He or McNeal said the following words decades ago at the Kiel Auditorium rally: “We resent the Jim Crow setup in the armed forces and war industry, and treatment branding us as second-class citizens,”

The Civil Rights Movement in St. Louis involved heavily grassroots activism. It involved men, women, and children who wanted an end to racial discrimination, Jim Crow, housing discrimination, and economic exploitation. They wanted black people to have adequate, fair job opportunities, so people can pursue their happiness in the most effective way possible. Many important civil rights cases were reality to the city of St. Louis. The Missouri History Museum documents the African American Freedom Struggle in St. Louis. The civil rights movement was very active in St. Louis. The 1938 Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada Supreme Court decision stated that states that provide a school to whites must also provide in state education to black people too. The Supreme Court said that this can occur by either allowing black people and white people to attend the same school or create a second school for African Americans. Lloyd Gaines was a black man who wanted to go into law school. He was refused to do so in Missouri. So, Gaines cited the Fourteenth Amendment as evidence to why his preventing of going into a law school was a violation of his constitutional rights. He’s right. The decision did not quite strike down separate but equal facilities, upheld in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).

Instead, it provided that if there was only one school, students of all races could be admitted. It struck down segregation by exclusion if the government provided just one school. That was a precursor to Brown v. Board of Education (1954). This case was the beginning of the end of the Plessy decision. Despite the initial victory claimed by the NAACP, after the Supreme Court had ruled in Gaines' favor and ordered the Missouri Supreme Court to reconsider the case, Gaines was nowhere to be found. When the University of Missouri soon after moved to dismiss the case, the NAACP did not oppose the motion. The historic Shelley v. Kraemer (of 1948) case was a landmark Supreme Court case that ruled that courts could not enforce racial covenants on real estate. Louis and Fern Kraemer were white neighbors who wanted to keep the black couple (J.D. and Ethel Shelley) from owning a home in the area. George L. Vaughn was a black attorney who represented J.D. Shelley at the Supreme Court of the United States. The attorneys who argued the case for the McGhees (as part of the companion case McGhee v. Sipes from Detroit, Michigan, where the McGhees purchased land that was subject to a similar restrictive covenant) were Thurgood Marshall and Loren Miller. Later, the St. Louis City Hall was integrated and a swimming pool was integrated in Fairground Park.

 

The image on the left show an innocent black person on the ground after being assaulted by white racists during the 1949 Fairground Park riot. 

The June 21, 1949 Fairground Park riot involve white racists hating the fact that St. Louis integrated its public swimming pools. Robert Gammon & J.C. Tobias  are black people who were chased by white racist gangs back then during the Fairgound Park riots (they were much younger back then).  During that 1949 riot, about 4,000 to 5,000 whites roamed the grounds of the Fairground Park and assaulted any and every African American that crossed their path. In 1959, sit-ins took place at Pope’s Cafeteria downtown, the Woolworth’s in midtown and the Howard Johnson’s at 3501 North Kings highway. Many restaurants had conceded to integrate by 1961, when the Board of Aldermen banned discrimination in public places. The historic Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., 392 U.S. 409 (1968), is a landmark United States Supreme Court case, which held that Congress could regulate the sale of private property to prevent racial discrimination. The Supreme Court decision of Shelley v. Kraemer banned all racial discrimination, private as well as public, in the sale or rental of property, and that the statute, thus construed, is a valid exercise of the power of Congress to enforce the Thirteenth Amendment. In May of 1942, the Booker T. Washington Technical vocational school wanted to help promote the war effort during WWII.

St. Louis was very central in the development of the black freedom struggle. Many of the unsung heroes of this struggle include Billie Teneau, Frankie Freeman, Hedy Epstein, Percy Green II, and Jamala Rogers. By 1947, CORE or the Congress on Racial Equality was formed in its St. Louis chapter. CORE’s original goal was to end injustice and establish true equality for all people. Billie Teneau was a founding member of the local CORE chapter. CORE back then held interracial picnics in Forest Park to show a message for justice. They made peaceful demonstrations throughout the city. During this time, the NAACP was already a powerful force in St. Louis. Its leadership was strong. NAACP worked heavily in the courts to fight for equal educational opportunities, racial equality, and fair housing. On 1949, NAACP civil rights lawyer Frankie Muse Freeman was involving the Brewton v. the Board of Education of St. Louis case. This was years before the Brown v. Board of Education decision that banned racial segregation in public schools back in 1954. Hedy Epstein worked with the Freedom of Residence to fight for housing rights. Percy Green II fought for direct action in St. Louis. He was part of CORE and found the ACTION organization to continue in nonviolent resistance. Jamala Rogers is a known activist who fought for freedom in St. Louis for decades and in our time with the Ferguson movement. One of the most important parts of St. Louis history was the Jefferson Bank demonstration.

On August 30, 1963, black protesters desired changes in the hiring practices at Jefferson Bank. Working class people, physicians, and business professionals marched in favor of economic justice. Civil rights groups wanted the bank to hire more black people since the bank only had two black employees. Not to mention that St. Louis is a black mecca of culture. The protesters sang, “We shall not be moved.” On that day of August 30, 1963, nine people were arrested. Bank executives were stubborn as they refused to change originally. CORE supported the movement against Jefferson Bank at 2600 Washington Avenue (just west of downtown). CORE chairman back then, Robert B. Curtis, wanted the bank to do the right thing. CORE and the NAACP worked together in the endeavor. The protests continued. On March 2, 1964, Jefferson Bank hired six more African Americans. The protests represented the influence of St. Louis in the modern civil rights movement.

The St. Louis city Alderman William Clay would go into Congress. Raymond Howard and Louis Ford would be Missouri legislators. Hundreds of people went into jail during the 1960’s in St. Louis for demonstrating against Jefferson Bank. To this very day, protests involving the Jefferson Bank continue. They also wanted many businesses to hire more black people as well. Many people were arrested during the 1960's after the court in St. Louis issued an injunction which would try to restrict demonstrations. Attorneys like Margaret Bush Wilson were involved in the movement involving the Jefferson Bank demonstrations too. She was a civil rights activist throughout her life and she was a courageous black woman. Norman Seay continues to speak out against discrimination and bank hiring practices. On July 14, 1964, civil rights protesters including Percy Green climbed up the unfinished Gateway in 1964 to fight for job opportunities for African Americans. Percy Green also rightfully opposed economic discrimination and he wanted to fight the Veiled Prophet parade (starting in 1965) because of its racist overtones. With the Black Power movement, Black Panthers and other groups were readily involved in St. Louis. One of the greatest civil rights leaders was Dick Gregory, who was born and raised in St. Louis. he lived for 84 years from 1932 to 2017. He supported Dr. King and Malcolm X. He marched, protested, gave sacrifice to the cause of freedom, and was a strong health plus peace activist. Dick Gregory opposed the Vietnam War and he was always outspoken on critically important issues. He was a social analyst, comedian, and great elder. The Black Panthers was a progressive, revolutionary group who desired black liberation and Third World international solidarity. They believed in socialist principles and desired all power to the people. In April of 1968, Dr. King was assassinated. In that month, 30,000 people marched peacefully to Forest Park. There was no rebellion in St. Louis. Also, on April 4, 1969, ACTION members raised their clinched fists in endorsing a rent strike in St. Louis.

The 1969 rent strike in St. Louis public housing brought fair, affordable housing more into the discussion among the national civil rights agenda. Gwen B. Giles was the first African American woman elected to the Missouri Senate. Giles was a civil rights activist and got involved in Democratic politics while trying to improve the lives of black people living in and around St. Louis. She broke down barriers for black people and women in Missouri.  As co-chair of the Legislative Black Caucus, she looked at discrimination in hiring practices. Giles sponsored bills including endorsing the Equal Rights Amendment, eliminating blue laws, processing personal-injury claims, making public assistance easier to deposit for citizens, and increasing aid to dependent children of unemployed parents. Under her leadership, the West End Community Conference in St. Louis addressed local school desegregation and received $30 million dollars to address housing in the area. She was a member of the Order of Women Legislators, NAACP, the International Consultation on Human Rights, and the National Council of Negro Women. She co-founded the Missouri Black Leadership Conference. She passed away in 1986 as a product of lung cancer. She was 53. Dr. Joe Williams was one of the leaders of the civil rights movement in the city during the 1960's. He passed away on March 16, 2013 at the age of 87. Curt Flood was an African American baseball player who fought for free agency. As time went on, more black people migrated into the suburbs of St. Louis County including Ferguson from 1970 to the present.

St. Louis is the fifth most segregated state in the Union today. Housing discrimination and unregulated suburban development continues in the St. Louis region to this very day. In Missouri, racial and class tensions exist and we have a long way to go. Yet, we have faith that the future will be better than the past via discussions, social activism, and the development of our power. Decades later since 1968, the Black Lives Matter movement would fight against racial oppression and police brutality during the 21st century. We are still fighting poverty, gentrification, and corporate exploitation worldwide. The events of Ferguson (with Michael Brown being killed by Darren Wilson in August of 2014) and St. Louis, involving the opposition to the police killing unarmed black people, has inspired a new generation of activism. In the end, we shall overcome. 

More St. Louis Building Projects

After World War II, there were early urban renewal actions in St. Louis. Also, many people made an effort to create a riverfront memorial to try to honor the slave owner Thomas Jefferson. This later would include the famous Gateway Arch. The project started in the early 1930’s. They or authorities acquired and demolished a 40 block area where the memorial would stand. The only remnant of Laclede’s street grid that was preserved was north of Eads Bridge (in what is now called Laclede’s Landing). The only building in the area to remain was the Old Cathedral. The area was used as a parking lot and demolition continued until the start of World War II. The project stalled until a design competition for the memorial started. In 1948, the Finnish architect Ero Saarinen’s design for an inverted and weighted catenary curve won the competition. Groundbreaking started in 1954. The Arch topped out in October of 1965.

A museum and visitors’ center was completed underneath the structure and it was opened in 1976. It attracted millions of visitors. The Arch ultimately spurred more than $500 million in downtown construction during the 1970’s and the 1980’s. There were plans during the 1930’s to build subsidized housing in St. Louis. Civil improvement efforts existed during the 1920’s. There were 2 big housing projects built in 1939. After World War II, more than 33,000 houses had shared outdoor toilets while thousands of St. Louisans lived in crowded, unsafe conditions. Starting in 1953, St. Louis cleared the Chestnut Valley area in Midtown, selling the land to developers who constructed middle-class apartment buildings. Nearby, the city cleared more than 450 acres (1.8 km2) of a residential neighborhood known as Mill Creek Valley, displacing thousands. A residential mixed-income development known as LaClede Town was created in the area in the early 1960's, although this was eventually demolished for an expansion of Saint Louis University. The majority of people displaced from Mill Creek Valley were poor and African American, and they typically moved to historically stable, middle-class black neighborhoods such as The Ville. In 1953, St. Louis issued bonds that financed the completion of the St. Louis Gateway Mall project and several new high rise housing projects. 

The most famous and largest of these projects were Pruitt-Igoe. It opened in 1954 on the northwest edge of downtown. It included 33 eleven-story buildings with nearly 3,000 units. Between 1953 and 1957, St. Louis built more than 6,100 units of public housing. Each opened with enthusiasm on the part of the local leaders, the media, and new tenants. The problem was that from the beginning, the projects had too little recreational space, too few healthcare facilities, no shopping centers, and employment opportunities were low. Crime was rampant, especially at Pritt-Igoe. The complex was demolished in 1975.

The other St. Louis housing projects remained relatively occupied through the 1980’s in spite of problems of poverty, crime, and lax health care services. So, many black people and poor people were forced to live in bad housing. There was the 1955 urban renewal bond issue. It totaled more than $110 million. The bonds provided funds to purchase land to build three expressways into downtown St. Louis. It evolved into Interstate 64, Interstate 70, and Interstate 44. In 1967, the highway only Poplar Street Bridge opened to move traffic from all three expressways over the Mississippi River. The openings of the Arch in 1965 and the bridge in 1967 were accompanied by the opening of a new stadium for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals moved into Busch Memorial Stadium early in the 1966 season. Construction of the stadium required the demolition of Chinatown, St. Louis, ending the large presence of a decades-old presence of a Chinese immigrant community. The city’s population decline since the 1920’s caused a government consolidation movement. The local government consolidated services.

St. Louis didn’t annex new lands back during the pre-Great Depression era. Later, the attempts of consolidation included the Metropolitan Sewer District, a city–county water and sewer company formed in 1954. The next year, however, a city–county mass transit agency was rejected by voters, followed by a failed charter revision in 1955 that would have unified the city and the county. As the County population grew, local subdivisions began multiplying and incorporating into cities and towns, producing more than 90 separate municipalities by the 1960's. Regional planning advocates succeeded in the 1965 creation of the East–West Gateway Coordinating Council, a group given the power to approve or deny applications for federal aid from cities. St. Louis had its population peak in the early 1950’s with about 880,000 people. It declined by new highway construction, more automobile ownership, and more suburbanization. There was white flight that started in the late 1950’s and continued in the 1960’s plus the 1970’s.  The black population declined in size from 1968 to 1972 by nearly 20,000 residents, representing significant black out-migration from the city during the period.  Many Americans moved to suburban developments in St. Louis County like Ferguson.

The 1980's and Beyond

From 1981 to 2000, St. Louis experienced massive changes. During the late 1970’s, urban decay was abundant. By 1980, it counted 435,000 people from 816,000 residents from 1940. Many buildings and homes were left to rot. There was pollution and industries languishing by 1980. Then, there was the election of  Vincent Schoemehl as the city's youngest mayor ever in 1981. He had to deal with rustbelt city issues. Its economic base was crumbling. Schoemehl developed 2 projects early in his three terms in office. He wanted to help St. Louis with these plans: Operation Brightside provided city beautification through plantings and graffiti cleanup. Schoemehl also instituted a safety program to address crime, known as Operation SafeStreet, which blocked access to certain through streets and provided low-cost security measures to homeowners. Crime declined starting in 1984, and despite a small resurgence in 1989, continued to decline through the 1990’s.

De jure segregation is banned in St. Louis public schools by 1954 via the Brown v. Board of Education decision. St. Louis area educators did try to use slick tactics in trying to ensure de facto segregation during the 1960’s. By the 1970’s, there was a lawsuit that fought against de facto segregation. This led to a 1983 settlement agreement. The agreement allowed St. Louis County school districts to accept black students from the city on a voluntary basis. State funds were used to transport students to provide for an integrated education. The agreement also called for white students from the county to voluntarily attend city magnet schools, in an effort to desegregate the City's remaining schools.  Despite opposition from state and local political leaders, the plan significantly desegregated St. Louis schools. In 1980, 82 percent of black students in the city attended all-black schools, while in 1995, only 41 percent did so. During the late 1990's, the St. Louis voluntary transfer program was the largest such program in the United States, with more than 14,000 enrolled students. There was a renewed agreement in 1999.

This allowed all but one of the St. Louis County districts agreed to continue their participation, albeit with an opt-out clause that allowed districts to reduce the number of incoming transfer students starting in 2002. In addition, districts have been permitted to reduce available seats in the program. Since 1999, districts have reduced availability by five percent annually. A five-year extension of the voluntary transfer program was approved in 2007. There was another five-year extension that was approved in 2012, allowing new enrollments to take place through the 2018–2019 school year in participating districts. Critics of the transfer program note that most of the desegregation under the plan is via transfer of black students to the county rather than transfer of white students to the city. Another criticism has been that the program weakens city schools by removing talented students to county schools. Despite these issues, the program will continue until all transfer students reach graduation; with the last group of transfer students allowed to enroll in 2018–2019, the program will end after the 2030–2031 school year.

More construction projects existed in St. Louis from 1981 to 1993. This hasn’t been seen since the early 1960’s. The new projects include the tallest building in the city called One Metropolitan Square. It was designed by Hellmuth, Obata, and Kassabaum. It was built in 1989. New retail projects began to exist like Amtrak abandoned Union Station as a passenger rail terminal in 1978. Yet, in 1985, it reopened as a festival marketplace under the direction of Baltimore developer James Rouse. During the same year, downtown developers opened St. Louis Centre. This was an enclosed four story shopping mall. It costed $176 million with 150 stores and 1,500,000 square feet (140,000 m2) of retail space. By the late 1990’s, however, the mall had fallen out of favor due to the expansion of the St. Louis Galleria in Brentwood, Missouri. The mall’s flagship Dillard’s store closed in 2001. The mall closed in 2006. Starting in 2010, developers began to convert the mall into a parking structure and an adjoining building into apartments, hotel, and retail. The city sponsored a major expansion of the St. Louis Convention Center during the 1980’s. Schoemehl used efforts to retain professional sports teams. The city purchased the Arena or a 15,000 seat venue for professional ice hockey and that was the home of the St. Louis Blues. During the early 1990’s, Schoemehl worked with business groups to form a new ice hockey arena (now known as the Scottrade Center) on the site of the city’s Kiel Auditorium. They promised that the developer would renovate the adjacent opera house. Although the arena opened in 1994 (and the original arena was demolished in 1999), renovations on the opera house did not begin until 2007. This was more than 15 years after the initial development plan. The Peabody Opera House (named for corporate contributor Peabody Energy) reopened on October 1, 2011, with performances by Jay Leno and Aretha Franklin.

In January 1995, Georgia Frontiere, the owner of the National Football League team known as the Los Angeles Rams (now St. Louis Rams), announced she would move that team to St. Louis. The team replaced the St. Louis Cardinals (now Arizona Cardinals), an NFL franchise that had moved to St. Louis in 1960 but departed for Arizona in 1988. The Rams played their first game in their St. Louis stadium, the Edward Jones Dome, on October 22, 1996. By the 2010's, the Rams would go into Los Angeles. Starting in the early 1980's, more rehabilitation and construction projects began, some of which remain incomplete. In 1981, the Fox Theatre, a movie theater in Midtown that closed in 1978, was completely restored and reopened as a performing arts venue. Among the areas to undergo gentrification was the Washington Avenue Historic District, which extends along Washington Avenue from the Edward Jones Dome west almost two dozen blocks. During the early 1990's, garment manufacturers moved out of the large office buildings on the street, and by the end of that decade residential developers began to convert the buildings into lofts. Prices per square foot increased dramatically in the area, and by 2001, nearly 280 apartments were built. Among the Washington Avenue projects to remain in development is the Mercantile Exchange Building, which is being converted to offices, apartments, retail, and a movie theater. More Bosnians immigrants came into St. Louis too. There is a large Mexican, Vietnamese, Ethiopian, and Somalian population in the city too. The gentrification also has had the effect of increasing the downtown population, with both the central business district and Washington Avenue district more than doubling their population from 2000 to 2010.

St. Louis in the 21st Century

The 21st century in Detroit has many developments. By the early 2000’s, there were many rehabilitation and construction projects in St. Louis. Some of these projects were incomplete. Mnay areas in St. Louis underwent gentrification like the Washington Avenue Historic District. It goes along Washington Avenue from the Edward Jones Dome west almost to doezn blocks.   During the early 1990s, garment manufacturers moved out of the large office buildings on the street, and by the end of that decade residential developers began to convert the buildings into lofts. Prices per square foot increased dramatically in the area, and by 2001, nearly 280 apartments were built. Among the Washington Avenue projects to remain in development is the Mercantile Exchange Building, which is being converted to offices, apartments, retail, and a movie theater. The gentrification also has had the effect of increasing the downtown population, with both the central business district and Washington Avenue district more than doubling their population from 2000 to 2010. Gentrification has harmed the lives of many poor people, black people, and others for years. There was the renovation of the downtown Old Post Office. It started in 1998 and it was finished in 2006.

The Old Post Office and seven adjacent buildings had been vacant since the early 1990’s, but as of 2010 included a variety of tenants, including a branch of the St. Louis Public Library, a branch of Webster University, the St. Louis Business Journal, and a variety of government offices. The renovation of the Old Post Office spurred development of an adjacent plaza, which is linked to a new $80 million residential building called Roberts Tower, the first new residential construction in downtown St. Louis since the 1970's Crime is a real problem in St. Louis. During the mid-2000’s, the population of St. Louis declined. The St. Louis Cardinals since 1999 desired a new Busch Stadium. There were plans for such a stadium in 2002. There was an agreement in which the state and city would issue bonds for construction.

The Cardinals agreed to build a multipurpose development called the St. Louis Ballpark Village on part of the site of the Busch Memorial Stadium. The new stadium opened in 2006, but construction has yet to begin on Ballpark Village. The Forest Park Southeast neighborhood near Missouri Botanical Garden and the old Gaslight Square district are also going through extensive renovations. Also, it is important to show what is going on in St. Louis. St. Louis is a Midwestern city in Missouri. Missouri has been cited as a warning from the NAACP because of incidents of racial oppression against black America. St. Louis was originally inhabited by Native Americans. French explorers lived there and it is now a multicultural city. Today, the problems of economic oppression, police brutality, and racial oppression (i.e. redlining, etc.) continue to exist in the city. The protesters are continuing, because a black man was shot and killed by a cop named Jason Stockley. The black man, who was killed, was Anthony Lamar Smith. Before the shooting, Stockley bragged in profane terms about wanting to kill the man. After the murder, video recordings show Stockley going into his police car to get a gun, which he then planted in the car of the dead victim. Only Stockley’s DNA was found on the gun. Like usual, the cop was acquitted in a disgraceful fashion. Some cops chanted, "who's streets, our streets," which totally disrespects the aspirations of those who desire justice.

These are protesters calling for justice in St. Louis over Anthony Lamar Smith and so many other people. 

This time is less than 5 years after the Ferguson movement. We have video footage of cops using tear gas against mostly peaceful protesters and some cops running over an elderly woman. Many cops are given total immunity in dealing with prosecution. Trump signed an order re-instituting the federal program that supplies military weapons and equipment to local and state police forces.We know that Sessions is pro- so-called "law and order," which is code for mass incarceration and further militarization of the local police which has been going on for over four decades. Therefore, the struggle for justice continues and we are apt to defend honor and truth.

Black Lives Matter.

St. Louis Culture.

The Culture of St. Louis is very diverse. It includes museums, other attractions, music, performing arts venues, and religious places as well. In Forest Park, there is the Saint Louis Art Museum. It has art media, ancient artifacts, and modern or contemporary exhibits. Other art museums in St. Louis include:  The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, located in a building designed by the architect and Pritzker Prize winner Tadao Ando, and the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis, a non-collecting contemporary art museum. Broadway shows and other concerts plus speaking events are found in St. Louis’ Fox Theater. There is the Union Avenue Opera that hosts performances. There is the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra that has received six Grammy Awards and fifty six nominations. There is no question that St. Louis culture historically back then and today deals with jazz, blues, rock and roll, and ragtime music. Chuck Berry was born in St. Louis. He performed in the area for decades until he passed away recently. Miles Davis, who was a great jazz musician, performed in St. Louis too. Josephine Baker was born in St. Louis too. In recent years, St. Louis has been home to musical artists such as Sheryl Crow, Story of the Year, Greek Fire (band) and The Urge. The region produced alt-country bands such as The Bottle Rockets and Uncle Tupelo, whose members went on to found Wilco and Son Volt. Rap and hip hop music artists from the area include  Ali, Murphy Lee, Chingy, and J-Kwon. Several musical clubs in the area are in the Delmar Loop, including The Pageant and Blueberry Hill. There are also numerous live music clubs in the South City area, including BB's, Broadway Oyster Bar, Off Broadway, the Way Out Club, and El Lenador. St. Louis is home to a large number of religious people. It has 650,000 Catholic people along with 390,000 Evangelical Protestant churches along with 210,000 mainline Protestant churches. 1.3 million St. Louisans were unclaimed by one of the 188 churches or groups studied by the Association of Religion Data Archives from 2000.

 By  Timothy