By Emily Woodruff, Staff Writer
Artwork by Haejin An, Design Lead
The Delmar Loop is a vibrant, historical street. Full of restaurants, stores, and complete with a trolley, a bowling alley, and a movie theater, the Delmar Loop is a place all Wash U students are familiar with. It is a great place to get food, clothes, or just hang out. But Delmar Blvd. is an important part of St. Louis, and not just for the reason that most students think. Delmar is the dividing line that represents the pervasive segregation in St. Louis.
According to the BBC, “Delmar Boulevard, which spans the city from east to west, features million-dollar mansions directly to the south, and poverty-stricken areas to its north. What separates rich and poor is sometimes just one street block.” The same article reports that to the North of Delmar, the median home value is $73,000, the median household income is $18,000, 10% of the population has a bachelor’s degree, and 98% of the population is African American. This is contrasted to the South of Delmar, where the median home value is $335,000, the median household income is $50,000, 70% of the population has a bachelor’s degree, and 73% of the population is white. This immense socioeconomic and racial cleavage is called the Delmar Divide. It has existed for decades and infamously still stands.
Jeannette Cooperman writes, “St. Louis is divided along many lines. And race plays a role in every one of those divisions. It also determines our future, because if you make a transparent map of racial segregation and lay it over other maps-political power, cultural influence, health, wealth, education, and employment-the pattern repeats.” The Delmar Divide does not just affect housing; it hurts so much more. From the quality of public schools, to the lack of grocery stores, to crime, all aspects of someone’s life change based on what side of Delmar they live on.
St. Louis is a city that has struggled with racism both in the past and in recent history. From the Dredd Scott case, to the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, the history of racism in Missouri, and especially St. Louis, is extensive yet rarely talked about.
Racially segregated housing has been a contentious issue in St. Louis for decades. In 1917, the United States Supreme Court ruled to end racial discrimination in housing. The case, Shelly v. Kraemer, originated in St. Louis. That same year, East St. Louis experienced racial unrest. Then there was the Pruitt-Igoe housing project that was supposed to be the future of public housing, but instead was a failure that left behind a long legacy. St. Louis is a city that has a long history of housing discrimination and is still very much racially divided. The Delmar Divide plainly shows this. Across the country it is touted as an example of the de-facto racial segregation that still exists in the United States. But a new $100 million project hopes to bridge the divide.
A recent news article from the St. Louis Post Dispatch describes how “the project will be called the Delmar Divine, named to counter the racial and income stratification that comes with the ‘Delmar Divine’ moniker.” According to the project’s website, “The Delmar Divine is a social innovation, a high impact real estate initiative that will set an example for community development, social improvement, and collaboration in St. Louis and the nation.” The actual building will be the old St. Luke’s Hospital on the 5500 block of Delmar. It will be transformed into a “mixed-use development for social innovators” that will provide “office space, shared services and other resources for not for profits, foundations and community support organizations” as well as approximately 150 apartments designed for the young, diverse professional”. The current tenants include many St. Louis institutions, including BJC and WashU (specifically the Brown School). The board of directors for the project also includes many people affiliated with WashU: Dedric Carter: Ph.D., MBA, Vice Chancellor for Operations and Technology Transfer; Adrienne Davis: Ph.D., Vice Provost; Edward F. Lawlor: Ph.D., Special Assistant to the Provost, Brown School; Mary M. McKay: Ph.D., Neidorff Family and Centene Corporation Dean of the Brown School; Geetha Rao Sant: JD, Adjunct Professor, School of Law; Cynthia Williams: Assistant Dean of Community Partnerships, Brown School.
The project’s website includes more information including other partners, future plans, their blog, and a link of where to donate.
The Delmar Loop will most likely remain a vibrant space that many WashU students will visit and utilize during their time at WashU. But Delmar still stands as a glaring reminder of the segregation and racism that still exist in St. Louis.
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That is a sanitized view of history. The evil white man. Have you talked to the people who lost their homes in the blighted areas. Do you know about the economic devastation people suffered from the migration of southern blacks north that overwhelmed communities across the northern cities after WW II? Glad to hear about people who care. Helping others is the golden rule. But does it have to be at the expense of innocent people. Malign whites with lies.