Thursday, February 16 is a day in St. Louis history that most area residents are unaware of – but one that those with a connection to a historically Black neighborhood will never forget.
“Sixty-four years ago today, the first wrecking ball struck in Mill Creek and permanently destroyed a viable urban neighborhood of 20,000,” author Vivian Gibson told an audience who gathered at St. Louis CITY SC stadium – where a portion of Mill Creek Valley once stood – for the unveiling of Pillars of Memory, the first phase of the Pillars of the Valley exhibition.
The art is part of a collaborative effort between the St. Louis CITY SC, Great Rivers Greenway and the City of St. Louis to pay tribute to the former residents of Mill Creek Valley in a major way.
“With our stadium district overlapping the footprint of Mill Creek Valley, we knew it was important to acknowledge the hard truths from St. Louis’ past,” said St. Louis CITY SC President and CEO Carolyn Kindle.
“We want visitors to CITYPARK to learn, honor and remember the history and stories of who was here before us.”
Former residents, most of whom were children when they were forced from their homes, attended the event.
Running along Market Street from Compton Ave. to 20th Street in the City of St. Louis right-of-way, the to-be-developed Brickline Greenway breaks ground this fall and will connect all the way to Harris-Stowe State University’s renovated Stars Park (former home to the St. Louis Stars of the Negro Baseball League) and their plans to renovate Vashon Community Center, one of the only remaining structures from Mill Creek Valley.
Pillars of Memory and the massive sculptural installation that will line up along the one-time borders of Mill Creek Valley are the work of multidisciplinary artist and East St. Louis native Damon Davis. He individually and collectively pays tribute to those who – like Gibson – were products and descendants of Mill Creek Valley.
“I grew up in East St. Louis. And one of the funny things is, I didn’t know this neighborhood existed and I grew up around here,” Davis said. “I wanted to make sure that no more Black kids would grow up without knowing about this thriving Black community that was in the center of St. Louis.”
Mill Creek Valley was a section of the city where thousands of homes, nearly a thousand businesses and dozens of churches once stood. In 1959, it was leveled in the name of urban renewal after being designated a slum. “To be clear, this was an act of intentional racial injustice,” Mayor Tishaura O. Jones said during her remarks. “Mill Creek Valley was a Black neighborhood.”
With her acclaimed literary debut, The Last Children of Mill Creek, Gibson provides context – and a sense of humanity – for the neighborhood that was demolished and subsequently erased. And her memories are among those etched in the granite pillars that are a focal point of CITYPARK, located near an entrance of the stadium.
“What we lost in the destruction of our Mill Creek Valley neighborhood was a community we relied on to survive,” a quote from Gibson reads alongside several others as part of the “Pillars of Memory” section of the installation.
Pillars of Memory will be on permanent display at CITYPARK. The work features eight granite pillars accented with limestone. Quotes from past residents, the art includes the original gridlines of the region that made up Mill Creek Valley. There is also a sculpture off to the side that includes an extensive listing of residents with their ages and occupations.
“The main theme I wanted to talk about was history. History is usually told by the winner – or the person that wants to tell the history – and everybody else gets written out,” Davis said. “I had the opportunity to tell some histories that had been covered up. The idea was to uncover – to excavate.”
He was extremely intentional with his choice of materials.
“I wanted a symbol of time that no matter where you were from, how old you were and what language you spoke, this is a symbol for time everybody knows – and that is an hourglass,” Davis said. “In between those two granite pillars is a limestone piece and that is to symbolize sand – sand that doesn’t move, because time has been stopped.”
He has spent the past five years working on Pillars of the Valley and the work will continue as work gets underway to carry the project to completion.
“We stop time to remember, to recognize, to commemorate,” Davis said. “And more than anything to give vindication to a neighborhood of people who were purposefully forgotten so that we never forget again.”
The following Sunday (February 19) residents were invited to take in Pillars of Memory with a celebratory first look that included the sounds of the Red and Black Brass Band.
They danced along to the music – which appropriately included a second-line inspired rendition of the Bill Withers classic “Lovely Day.”
“It is touching to see this because this is the ground our ancestors once walked on and was cherished,” said Kendra Smith, whose grandmother Zenobia Butler was a product of Mill Creek Valley. “I’m taking in that they are being honored by name – and I get to see the individuals who experienced these stories I heard so much about from my grandmother when I was growing up.”
She was thrilled that this sculpture will be a permanent part of the St. Louis CITY SC Stadium landscape.
“I’m glad that this remembrance is being inked in and not penciled in,” Smith said. “So that our children and their children’s children will know that the African Americans of Mill Creek are a part of St. Louis history too.”
