There is a driving tour in St. Louis created by University of Missouri- St. Louis students that 20 historic sites. These sites range from the now demolished, Josephine Baker home to Fashion High School. The sites are mapped out in away that makes the tour easy to follow on ones own. Additionally, each site has a text to speak option, but this did not work on my phone.
A few highlights of the tour for me were the First Baptist Church of St. Louis which was the first African American church west of the Mississippi. The tour includes rich information about the church history and founders.
The Scott Joplin House is an interesting structure that seems completely out of place. Mostly because the row of 3 homes is in the middle of roadways surrounded by next to nothing else. The original neighborhood has since been demolished.
Overall the tour was very interesting and provided an insight into St. Louis history that is often overlooked. Additionally, the tour brings up questions about the issues surround St. Louis preservation.
Archives Of My Mind 
One response to “Mill Creek Valley and African American Life in Early 20th century St. Louis”
I am guessing this is what we’re supposed to comment on. I know the neighborhood this is referring to is to the east of where we were at tonight. When I used to teach in this neighborhood it between Grand Center and Washington Avenue I have taken students to the Scott Joplin house. It is another one of those relics from a day gone by where everything else has been demolished in the name of so-called progress. It really was eye-opening tonight to see the last vestiges of a Time long gone and the wealth of St Louis. I’m not sad to see the wealth gone but it would be nice to see what some of those large homes Could Have Become. I love talk to text it’s amazing what it spells in capital letters. I had been by the Josephine Baker home but never took the opportunity to go in. The area of North Saint Louis which we were close by is a fascinating microcosm of where different nationalities and ethnicities took root and at different times different migrations of people in and out of the city. I used to work at a school off of Jefferson not too far where we were at tonight the church has since been demolished in the name of progress. A long time ago there was a Native American graveyard there that it became home to Irish Catholics and then polish Catholics and even a Greek community and now it’s a part of African African American community. It is amazing how this city changes over and over again sometimes for the good sometimes For Worse. I am glad that tours like we did tonight and the UMSL project referred to in this piece and the Missouri Historical Society marker program exist. People need to know more about their public history.
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