From now to then, what once was Mound City.

    St. Louis in the present day is a strange blending of two realities. Amazing historic architecture can be found just blocks away from some of the worst urban blight in the United States. Stick with me through this next bit, as I set the scene. Please know that I am not an expert on any of these issues, and am trying to include plenty of links to clarify anything I may have gotten wrong, and offer more information if you want it.

    Racial issues following the end of slavery, moving into the Jim Crow Era (1916) and racial segregation ordinances that further served to marginalize the black population are a grim reflection of the continued "colonial" mindset that elevated those with lighter skin in every way. (**This will be a theme I come back to.)  This included limiting where people lived or where they could buy property. When the Supreme Court ruled this practice illegal 32 years later, many of the "solutions" put in place further served to create what is known today as the Delmar Divide.  (It also lead to the horrible failed experiement of Pruitt-Igoe . If you have never heard of this public housing development, then you also don't know that the military conducted extensive expreiments on the residents of PI and the surrounding neighborhoods, without their knowledge or consent in the 50's and 60's. Pruitt-Igo Cold War Testing )

    We live in a peaceful neighborhood of St. Louis known as DeBaliviere Place. Anchored by the 1,300 acre Forest Park (A bit larger than Central Park in NYC) , we are a lovely shaded walk away from the zoo, art and history museums and more attractions.  Or miles and miles of walking trails, through curated and wild feeling areas, masking the reality that you are in the middle of the city. 

    Our neighborhood is made up of 100 year old brick condo buildings, large gated neighborhoods with sprawling historic mansions, and a few modern condo buildings with more amenities. To the East side of the park is the large medical campus of Washington University and the many associated hospitals and practices, and luxury high rise buildings. The South side of the park is framed partially by my beloved St Louis Science Center. To the West is the stately and sweeping Washington University Danforth campus. A convenient Light Rail train runs from downtown St Louis, through the edge of the park and then out to the suburbs, East to West. 

    The park, our neighborhood and the surrounding ones are idyllic feeling. Carefully nurtured old growth trees provide much needed respite from the intense heat of our region. We have extra police patrols, making it quite safe to enjoy those wonderful sidewalks in the evening while the fireflies are buzzing in the landscaping. 

    A comittee of residents recently added a new stop sign and additional street lights to increase safety. We pay to have trash cans on every corner, which are miraculously emptied regularly, and pet waste bag stations always stocked by invisible hands.

    Just a short 3 block drive to the north will start to reveal the other sad truths of St. Louis. Delmar Avenue serves as an east-west demarcation between idyllic and impoverished. Closed businesses, graffiti, and empty houses. Driving anywhere north of Delmar slips you into a surreal alternate reality that would fit in any post-apocalyptic movie. Blocks of empty or burned out houses with only a handful of determined residents keeping up their homes and sticking it out. So many closed businesses. You will immediately notice that the trees are really rare here, and the sun is far more grueling. This is urban blite in a way I had never imagined seeing in the United States. It is poverty, which increases crime. Life is one way south of Delmar, and an absolute struggle north of it.

    The wisdom given to any tourist or newcomer to St Louis is to stay south of Delmar.

    Even more than that you notice that there are no grocery stores. NONE. There are a few small restaraunts eeking out a survival by providing carryout only from behind bars for safety. One or two aging fast food franchises close early. There are not medical resources, social services, or many job options  or opportunity nearby. They unshaded bus stops allow access to other parts of town, but there is no high speed option in the North. Getting anywhere takes time, and is dangerous. There is trash, graffiti, abandoned yards, and decaying infrastructure everywhere.

    When explorers first came to the St. Louis area, they found over 50 mounds remaining on the west side of the Mississippi river, and hundreds on the east side. This was but one precinct of the greater Cahokia region. More on this later.

    The earliest colonial explorations of the area that would become St. Louis took place in June 1673. After being claimed by France, and then Spain, real settlement began around a century later. Even in this early period of European contact with the region, Cahokia was abandoned. 

    The Mississippian culture that had established the largest urban establishment north of Mexico had eclipsed almost entirely by 1350. The practices were gone, the religion was abandoned, and the people who built the mounds were considered  unknown distant ancestors by the migrating tribal groups living in the region at the time. 

    

    The settlers found rich farmland, sometimes interrupted with mounds that they had to work around, or level. As cities were planned and developed along this vital river corridor, these relics of antiquity were often in the way of progress. On the St. Louis City side (west) that meant that these were especially problematic towards progress. So began the fairly rutheless and haphazard removal of mounds leveled without any oversite by archaeologists or anthropologists, or an opportunity for research. Countless artifacts holding parts of the story were just discarded with fill dirt.

    Mounds were flattened, dismantled, built over, and forgotten. There was such a systematic erasure of the whispers of that ancient history on this side of the river that it was almost completely forgotten. St. Louis quietly lost its title of "Mound City" by the end of the 1800's.

At this juncture I have to observe some really uncomfortable realities about the cutlure I grew up in. I learned history through a Post-Colonial filter, with a quick glossing over of many topics in order to keep it all palatable for the predominantly white culture I was in. I learned the most basic versions of history regarding slavery, segregation, and my entire education on Indigenous Americans was regarding their interactions with the settlers. I failed to become more educated as an adult. I focused my awareness on social justice issues in front of me: Immigrant rights, Womens rights, Unhoused Rights. I failed to really see, until now.

I am facing my white privilege in a way I should have decades ago. I am feeling curious to understand what has been erased, and feel an obligation to give voice to those who are calling out to me from centuries ago.

I want to leave you with this article, and invite you to join me on a journey of seeing and listening.

St. Louis was once Mound City. Its Native American residents still feel erased