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I do like the arch a lot, but I agree that destroying neighborhoods for it wasn't worth it--however, the freeway was likely going in regardless and that was going to destroy directly and indirectly what the arch did. Since what's done is done, undergrounding and capping as much as I-40 should be the plan.
A nitpick, but that existing neighborhood was torn down for something and not specifically the Arch. Demolition started in 1939, but the Arch wasn't designed until 1947.
Although I found it hilarious that the author asked, "Is it [the Arch] the reason that East St. Louis, just over the river, doesn’t feel connected to the rest of the city?" First, East St. Louis is an entirely seperate city, so it can't be disconnected from "the rest of the city" if it's already not a part of said city. Second, East St. Louis' riverfront is industrial with a large casino, and what's left of its downtown is inland to the east of the elevated section of 64/55. That's why it's disconnected.
8 mile looks very different on one side vs the other because one side is Detroit and one side is not.
The Suburbs wouldn’t have grown like they did if they were in the city.
Also it’s not like Detroit is particularly small. Nor is Milwaukee.
Lakewood maintained itself because it isn’t Cleveland.
St. Louis' geographic constrictions meant that the city had slammed into its political boundaries by the 1920s, and multiple attempts were then made prior to St. Louis' population peaking in 1950 in order to reunify with the county in order to allow St. Louis to start annexing like other cities were doing at the time.
This meant that by 1950 many of St. Louis' inner ring suburbs were already built up and had environments resembling what was on the other side of the border in the city itself. They would have made sense annexation wise. This also meant that a lot of inner ring suburbs didn't benefit from the flight to the suburbs because they were already established. People were moving even further away from the city's boundaries into the less developed parts of St. Louis County.
Now one could wonder would a lot of these inner ring suburbs be in the shape they are today had they been a part of the city. Would they have depopulated in much the same way the city did, or would they have buoyed St. Louis' declining population? We'll never know.
For population comparison, here's some population trends for the city (62 sq miles of land) vs the county (508 sq miles)
1880 (four years after The Great Divorce)
City: 351k
County: 31k
1900
City: 575k
County: 50k
1920
City: 773k
County: 101k
1950
City: 857k
County: 406k
1970
City: 622k
County: 951k
2000
City: 348k
County: 1,016,000
2019 (estimate)
City: 301k
County: 994k
Last edited by PerseusVeil; 05-23-2020 at 01:36 PM..
St. Louis is terribly underrated for it's intact urbanity. Obviously, St. Louis suffers from a relatively weak downtown and significant urban decay but it's often written off when it comes to the variety of urban neighborhoods and the sheer amount of prewar urbanity for a city it's size. When you consider that St. Louis probably did everything wrong from an urban policy perspective it's amazing that there are neighborhoods like this still left. Not to mention it's light rail system is about the same size as MSP, a much healthier city and region.
The problem we have in St. Louis is just that the immediate core areas near downtown really hollowed out in a horrible way. Interstates also really cut up the city bad. I'd imagine perceptions of St. Louis would be much better and the downtown area would be much stronger if we could somehow magically crunch these neighborhoods together. I think a challenge in the future will be is if St. Louis can generate enough demand to fill in the voids left by urban renewal.
What also hurts St. Louis is the crime and segregated feeling environment. I think reduced crime and a more inclusive environment might make the difference.
What also hurts St. Louis is the crime and segregated feeling environment. I think reduced crime and a more inclusive environment might make the difference.
You know what city is more segregated than St. Louis in both city AND metro? Chicago.
St. Louis' geographic constrictions meant that the city had slammed into its political boundaries by the 1920s, and multiple attempts were then made prior to St. Louis' population peaking in 1950 in order to reunify with the county in order to allow St. Louis to start annexing like other cities were doing at the time.
This meant that by 1950 many of St. Louis' inner ring suburbs were already built up and had environments resembling what was on the other side of the border in the city itself. They would have made sense annexation wise. This also meant that a lot of inner ring suburbs didn't benefit from the flight to the suburbs because they were already established. People were moving even further away from the city's boundaries into the less developed parts of St. Louis County.
Now one could wonder would a lot of these inner ring suburbs be in the shape they are today had they been a part of the city. Would they have depopulated in much the same way the city did, or would they have buoyed St. Louis' declining population? We'll never know.
For population comparison, here's some population trends for the city (62 sq miles of land) vs the county (508 sq miles)
1880 (four years after The Great Divorce)
City: 351k
County: 31k
1900
City: 575k
County: 50k
1920
City: 773k
County: 101k
1950
City: 857k
County: 406k
1970
City: 622k
County: 951k
2000
City: 348k
County: 1,016,000
2019 (estimate)
City: 301k
County: 994k
We likely do know because whether it be Detroit, St Louis, or Cleveland there are stark transitions right on the city line to nice well maintained suburbs are like ~90%+ their peak populations that happened in the 1970s-1990s.
The suburbs are very much not the city that is the primary reason people moved there. Whether it be crime, schools, taxes, or whatever. If after the riots in 1968 the goal for the White People to leave Detroit, they moved to Dearborn heights or Grosse Pt because it wasn’t Detroit if it was Detroit people would have left those places or at very least wouldn’t have moved there.
For example Indianapolis only merged with the county if it’s orginal school district did not follow out. People lived outside center township for a reason. To not live in Indianapolis.
I do like the arch a lot, but I agree that destroying neighborhoods for it wasn't worth it--however, the freeway was likely going in regardless and that was going to destroy directly and indirectly what the arch did. Since what's done is done, undergrounding and capping as much as I-40 should be the plan.
I-70 already runs in a trench past the Arch through downtown St. Louis; capping it should be very simple.
But I thought I heard that there are plans afoot to build another Mississippi River crossing to take some of the weight off the Poplar Street Bridge, which carries three of the four Interstates that converge on St. Louis across the river. (I-44 ends where it meets I-55 just south of the I-70/55/64 junction.) I don't know how far along this is or what effect it would have on the downtown freeways. I-64 and US 40 run on a double-deck elevated viaduct along downtown's southern edge.
Basically they rerouted 70 across the bridge, but you can still exit from the Poplar and take that remnant of 44 downtown and get onto 70 still.
I'd be down for filling in the trenched highway downtown due to the rerouting of 70. If you're trying to come from the south on 44/55 they could always try to route traffic via Memorial Drive or something.
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