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All posts written by St. Louis City Talk contributors unless otherwise noted.
A life-affirming interview with a Yale student and member of the world-renowned “Whiffenpoof” a cappella group is a St. Louis native and product of the St. Louis Public Schools. He and the rest of the group are performing in town October 13-15th. Go check them out and help spread the love.
Fairground Park is the home of the first municipal swimming pool in St. Louis opened in 1912. In 1949 the pool was opened to black folks in a response from a Federal court procedure saying it was against the 14th amendment to disallow people from public pools, golf courses, etc based on race.
A race riot ensued. Read all about it in an excellent story by Kate Boudreau that was published on NextSTL.
It's hard to think about the massive losses we've experienced as a city over the years. It's hard to believe we let this happen. What a disposable society we are that allows this kind of architecture and history to fall by the wayside. Fairground Park is crumbling and is a tad threatening in more ways than one. This has been a volatile place when it comes to race relations in St. Louis going back to the 1940s. There was some major violence back in 1949 when the city ordered the desegregation of the swimming pools in the park. After a couple days of violence and blood shed, the city decided to go back to segregation. There's an excellent retelling of the story summarized on the Missouri History Museum website...
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