Don’t Call It A Slum: Housing and Living Standards in Mill Creek Valley

Don’t Call It A Slum: Housing and Living Standards in Mill Creek Valley

Although Mill Creek Valley was the cultural epicenter of black St. Louis, the government and media commonly attacked the neighborhood based on its substandard housing and living conditions. Many of the homes and tenement buildings in Mill Creek Valley were consistently referred to as “slums” or a “blight”. Despite a rich history and social culture, a newspaper once claimed that the buildings “tend to weaken and lower the moral and social standards of the community” (St. Louis Globe-Democrat).

Linck, Lester. Children standing in the back lot of a three-story tenement house in Mill Creek Valley. 1954-1958. Lester Linck Collection: St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Missouri History Society, St. Louis, MO. https://mohistory.org/collections/item/P0230-00100

Major, Carl E. “Bond Issue Slum Clearance ‘Tremendous Bargain’ for City.” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, May 01, 1955. https://www.newspapers.com/image/574308365/?terms=mill%20creek%20valley%20tenement%20housing&match=1