During World War I, St. Louis saw an approximately 41 percent increase in the Black population due to a labor shortage. These new St. Louisans, part of the first wave of the Great Migration, found work and established communities of their own. Originally settled in the mid-1800s, Mill Creek Valley became one of the largest neighborhoods for African Americans in the early 20th century. Two famous St. Louisans who gained worldwide fame, Scott Joplin and Josephine Baker, were products of this midtown neighborhood.
Mill Creek Valley’s streets flourished with stores, churches, bars, and nightclubs. Notable buildings included City Hospital No. 2, the Pine Street YMCA, and Vashon High School. The neighborhood developed a distinct African American culture based on religion, music, and activism that spread throughout the St. Louis area and even across the US.Â
Mill Creek Valley’s streets flourished with stores, churches, bars, and nightclubs. Notable buildings included City Hospital No. 2, the Pine Street YMCA, and Vashon High School. The neighborhood developed a distinct African American culture based on religion, music, and activism that spread throughout the St. Louis area and even across the US. By the early 1950s, more than 20,000 Black St. Louisans lived in Mill Creek Valley.
Unfortunately, as a consequence of redlining and segregation, by the World War II era, Mill Creek Valley’s population experienced unsanitary conditions, a lack of water and electricity, and deteriorating buildings. The US government passed the 1954 Federal Housing Act and other initiatives to fund urban renewal projects across the country. The following year the City of St. Louis, under Mayor Raymond R. Tucker, passed a $110 million bond issue, $10 million of which was designated for the demolition of Mill Creek Valley. Upon completion of this major project, St. Louis would gain new highways (including US Highway 40) and new buildings for residential living and industrial zones.
While it may not have been acknowledged at the time, Mill Creek Valley was one of many urban renewal projects that used federal funds to systematically discriminate against African Americans and hinder their progress. Regardless of their historical significance, buildings across the neighborhood’s 465 acres were destroyed. In February 1959, the first rounds of land clearance took place on Laclede Avenue, where Saint Louis University’s Marchetti Towers stand today. By the time the land clearance was completed in the 1960s, the once lively district of Mill Creek Valley was unrecognizable and many thousands of Black St. Louisans had been displaced.
One of the larger public housing projects was LaClede Town, a unique experiment that attempted to create a mixed-income, mixed-race neighborhood from scratch. Unlike the superblock housing towers of most public housing developments of the era, LaClede Town was built as a low-rise neighborhood, with a barber shop, laundry, grocery, and café interspersed with the housing units.
At the close of the project, the City of St. Louis began developing new public housing units, hoping to replenish the area with a more utopian structure. One of the larger public housing projects was LaClede Town, a unique experiment that attempted to create a mixed-income, mixed-race neighborhood from scratch. Unlike the superblock housing towers of most public housing developments of the era, LaClede Town was built as a low-rise neighborhood, with a barber shop, laundry, grocery, and café interspersed with the housing units.
From 1968 to 1972, the Black Artists Group (BAG) headquarters at 2665 Washington Avenue in LaClede Town was an incubator for dozens of avant-garde Black visual artists, dancers, poets, painters, authors, and musicians, many of whom also lived in the neighborhood. The first floor housed living quarters and live performance spaces, while the second floor became an open artist’s studio. The Circle Coffee House was a regular spot to catch BAG members’ poetry readings, improvised theatre, and musical performances.
LaClede Town was lauded for successfully integrating Black and white tenants, but the developers struggled with money issues. In 1995 it became a victim of demolition, just like Mill Creek Valley. Today the area is home to buildings belonging to Saint Louis University and Harris-Stowe State University. Although the majority of Mill Creek Valley’s historic landmarks no longer stand, a few buildings, such as the old Vashon High School, managed to make it through several other urban renewal projects.
Mill Creek Valley and LaClede Town are featured in the Missouri History Museum’s new exhibit, St. Louis Sound. Learn more about St. Louis’s contributions to popular music by visiting https://mohistory.org/society.
