Community Voices: Portland Place and the Story of Private Streets in Saint Louis

By Jeff Merz, AICP LEED AP – Planner with G70

We are all familiar with the now-infamous photograph of the barefoot duo outside their marble estate toting a pistol and a semi-automatic rifle during a peaceful protest march on the street in front of their home. Reaction on social media was swift and, as everything is nowadays, politicized, and weaponized (literally).

My Hometown and Youthful Indiscretions

I grew up in Saint Louis.  As a teenager over a few summers, I worked as a pool lifeguard at the formerly opulent, turn of the century Chase-Park Plaza Hotel - a block from where the photo above was taken.  After my shift was done, I frequently drove through the numerous private places prior to heading home in the evening. The main vehicle gates were never opened but residents entered these private places via non-descript side streets.  Some locals, like myself, knew where these various side entries were, but most people in Saint Louis did not. The guard shack entry was frequently unoccupied. For the record, every time I snuck in to marvel at the unbelievable palatial estates within, I was trespassing. These private places are just that.  The streets, streetlights, signage, street trees and sidewalks are owned and maintained exclusively by the residents within.  City taxes are not used to maintain these private places. But more on that later.

Saint Louis during the Gilded Age was an economic powerhouse, the 4th largest city in the U.S, a center for industry and innovation, river and train transportation, and a burgeoning center for culture, higher education, and research.  Against that backdrop, an upper-class society was born.  The upper-class community with their wealth generated by industry and commerce, was only possible through the toil of the immigrants coming from Europe and African Americans migrating north from the South.  The explosive growth of these latter two groups and their increasing visibility on the streets and neighborhoods of Saint Louis, was worrisome to some in the Gilded Age echelon. This new money wished to move from the increasingly congested, loud, dirty and unhealthy neighborhoods close to downtown and the Mississippi River.  But mostly they wanted to move away from the working class of minorities and immigrants.

One tool (but not the only tool to be instituted through the years to address racial fears) was to create private residential areas with their own covenants, control over access, and a quasi-autonomous ruling structure in the form of their Associations. Saint Louis is considered the birthplace of this type of urban private place. The most nefarious restrictive covenant incorporated into some of these Associations’ bylaws was that which limited “who” could reside within the gates. This usually meant blacks, Jews and even Mongolians in one covenant, were not to be permitted to purchase a home or reside within the community, nor were owners permitted to sell to same.

With covenants in hand, the lush forest lands and undulating open spaces on the west end of the city, abutting the recently completed Forest Park, proved to be the promised land. Large subdivisions were laid out along broad pea stone boulevards and carriage-appropriate avenues with lush, wide medians lined with oaks.  Large lots were then populated with spectacularly crafted homes with the finest materials, features and landscaping that money could buy. One even had a full size roller skating rink on its third floor. 

The city eventually developed around these places after the turn of the century, albeit with more conventional urban development.  And in 1948 the U.S. Supreme Court, in a case from an African American family in Saint Louis, threw out race-based restrictive covenants as unconstitutional.  (See Shelly v. Kraemer Supreme Court case).

But the closed gates remain.

Back to the Gates

Because these private places are so woven into the cityscape and street pattern of modern Saint Louis, they don’t seem to be private.  Here in Hawaii, we tend to think of gated communities as enclaves like Waialae Iki, Hawaii Loa Ridge or Black Point.  They stand apart from the rest of the community, not right in the middle of it.  What struck me reading about the incident on Portland Place is that the homeowner kept yelling to the protesters that they were on private property.  Protesters said they were in the street and on the sidewalk, but the owner told them that everything within the gates is private including the street and sidewalk, so they were trespassing even while in the street. Right or wrong, I think the concept of a city street being private property was lost on many of the peaceful protesters. They were simply taking a short cut to get to the mayor’s house a few blocks away and walking around Portland Place via Lindell Boulevard would add 10 minutes to their journey.

But I think the impetus behind the couple’s overreaction, possible criminal behavior, (and their laughable lack of gun safety education skills), may have a more nuanced origin.

The Delmar Divide

Like Chicago’s past Cabrini-Green/Gold Coast paradox, Saint Louis’ private places, are today only a few short blocks south of some of the poorest areas of the city.  Delmar Boulevard runs across the city east to west and has become the de facto border between Saint Louis’ wealthiest enclave and one of its poorest.  The physical contrast is stark.  South of Delmar, the streets are lush with a dense tree canopy, well-paved streets, and bustling, walkable commercial districts. North of Delmar is populated by fast food restaurants, the ubiquitous check cashing operation, barred-window liquor stores and vacant lots interrupted by the occasional 19th century rowhouse.

While few living at Portland Place likely ever travel north across Delmar, they are fully aware of it and its meaning. Saint Louis has been and remains one of the most segregated cities in America.  While I don’t want to stereotype the residents, having grown up there, I do know many decisions by Saint Louisans on where to live, where to shop, what restaurant to eat at, which schools to attend, which entertainment to see, is frequently filtered through geographical location and its associated dog whistle, race.  And this filtering applies across the racial spectrum.  While this process is not unique to Saint Louis, it does appear to me to be more pronounced there.  Growing up, I knew people who lived in some of these private places.  For a time, my sister’s family lived on a non-gated street nearby. Some had a slight unease, defensiveness and trepidation when the issue of Delmar was brought up. Some had suffered home break ins, car break ins and muggings.  Saint Louis has a stubbornly high crime rate.  I think the unease of the juxtaposition and proximity of these two neighborhoods, the sense of defensiveness many people form living in a gated community, and the race of many of the peaceful protesters, led to the couple’s wildly inappropriate response.  Let’s be clear, I am not condoning their behavior but instead seeking to understand it.

Some would argue these private places are benign developments with residents preferring the security, order and self-rule that gated communities afford.  I get it, but here is another interpretation.  While doing research for this article, I came across a very apt quote on the matter, especially as it applies to our current racial reckoning and community unrest.

“Some argue that the very concept of “private places” reinforces spatial anti-Black racism, to quote a term coined by planner and activist Amina Yasin — and that it’s past time we begin the work of dismantling them, along with all other forms of white supremacy in the street realm”. Source: Kea Wilson, Streetsblog USA

I don’t know what the correct answer is to this issue, but right now there needs to be some soul searching in our society related to numerous issues surrounding race. What I do know is threatening peaceful protesters with semi-automatic rifles from your marble entryway, even on a private street, is not the way forward. For more insight on the matter, check out these links:

How St. Louis’ History of Private Streets Led to a Gun-Brandishing Couple; Alissa Walker, Curbed

Closed Off in the Gateway City; Tim Lloyd, We Live Here

The views discussed in this article are those of the contributing author and do not reflect those of the APA Hawai‘i Chapter.