Kinloch, Missouri
Encyclopedia
Kinloch is a city in St. Louis County
, Missouri
, United States
. The population was 298 at the 2010 census.
Kinloch is the oldest African-American community to be incorporated in the state of Missouri and was home to a vibrant and flourishing black community for much of the 19th and 20th century. It is the hometown of California Congresswoman Maxine Waters
.
In the 1980s, the City of St. Louis
began to buy out property in Kinloch as part of the expansion of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
, dramatically reducing Kinloch's size. Eventually the airport took the vast majority of private homes in Kinloch. Between 1990 and 2000, Kinloch lost more than 75 percent of its population. The social and economic effects of this buyout were disastrous for the community and contributed more than anything else to its present plight.
Kinloch became an increasingly violent and dangerous place to live, infested with drugs and crime. The police department faced numerous investigations, and over a 20-year period a number of officers were arrested on corruption charges. Kinloch reached a low point in September 2002 when St. Louis County police chief Ron Battelle directed his department to take control of law enforcement in Kinloch. The city's population had dwindled to 449, and there was talk of disincorporation, which was renewed in 2011, when Mayor Keith Conway faced federal charges for using city funds to pay for personal expenses, including a vacation home in Florida
.
In recent years, there have been efforts to rebuild the city. Faith Beyond Walls, a community service organization, has been instrumental in mobilizing volunteers to assist with these efforts. The county police presence remains, though Kinloch continues to operate its own police department, and city officials say it is nearly ready to stand on its own.
The City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kinloch, Berkeley
and Ferguson
reached agreement on a redevelopment
plan for 600 acres (2.4 km²) of land on the northeast corner of I-70
and I-170
, along the eastern edge of the airport. Years ago, this land was part of the airport buyout. The redevelopment will offer office, retail, and industrial space and is expected to create about 12,000 jobs, along with tax revenue to be split among the municipalities. The developers, NorthPark Partners, intend to make improvements in Kinloch and donate a new civic center to Kinloch.
model.
Since it was not legal to sell directly to blacks, the Olive Street Terrace Realty Corporation sold the parcels to whites on average for $150 who then in turn privately sold the plots to blacks on average for $350. This allowed the company to use the white people's loans as collateral
for further bank notes. To get white investors, the company circulated testimonials of investors who paid in $50 towards a parcel and received a $500 to a $1000 return on the investment. In an advertisement to the Argus
, Olive Street Terrace Realty states:
The original Kinloch Park development had Kinloch Track which was dedicated to the sport of horse racing
. When the sport was made illegal in the state of Missouri the Kinloch Airfield took over the grounds. The Aero Club of Saint Louis hosted the first international air meet in October 1910, where Theodore Roosevelt
was the first American President to fly in an airplane. Pilot Arch Hoxsey flew the president around for over three minutes in one of the Wright Brothers
' total fleet of six planes they had brought in.
The Kinloch Airfield was known for several other firsts, including the first control tower
, the first meal served on a flight, the first airmail
shipped, the first parachute
jump, the first aerial photo and the first animal airlifted. Albert Bond Lambert
was the first person in the Saint Louis area to receive a pilot's license and was a member of the Aero Club of Saint Louis. He and the club leased the field in 1920 and renamed it the Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field in 1923. He purchased the field in 1925 and resold the airfield to the city of Saint Louis at cost without his new improvements on February 7, 1928, where it became the first city operated airport, the precursor of today's Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
.
Kinloch was home to the 198th chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association UNIA
, with Elijah Woodson chairing. The organization fostered black-owned businesses in the area.
A good deal of Kinloch history circles about education. In 1902 the white residents of Kinloch Park decided to withdraw from the neighboring Ferguson
school district and found their own schools. The Nuroad school was founded for whites, and the Vernon school house, established in 1885 for the education of the black children of the servants to the whites in Kinloch, transferred to the old 2-room school that the white children had used. In 1913 the Dunbar Elementary school, named after Paul Lawrence Dunbar, was established for the black children of South Kinloch. It holds the record as the longest operated school for blacks only. It was still segregated
when it closed in 1975. Another Vernon School later opened in 1927 to educate the black students of Kinloch and west Ferguson. Although the U.S. Supreme Court had ordered desegregation
in 1954, the school remained segregated till it closed in 1967. Even though the Kinloch schools remained segregated, the Kinloch students took part in a court-ordered busing program to desegregate other school districts.
In 1924 Kinloch was the first community in Missouri to elect a black man to its school board. He was the Reverend Walter Johnson and later a vocal critic of Kinloch's refusal to build a high school for its black students. By 1938 South Kinloch was about to elect a second black board member while the district was 543 black students to 349 whites. This was when the white north put on the ballot an attempt to split the school district. This third attempt to divide the district by the protesting and minority whites who attended Nuroad School ended in failure, with 415 unanimous votes against in the black south and 215 unanimous votes for in the white north. This failure to split the districts led to the foundation of a new municipality called Berkeley
, which included all of North Kinloch Park plus land to the northwest and which formed a new school district. This is when South Kinloch Park became Kinloch.
of 2010, there were 229 people, in the 2000 census there were 448 people, 157 households, and 116 families residing in the city. The population density
was 616.5 people per square mile (237.5/km²). There were 231 housing units at an average density of 317.2 per square mile (122.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 1.78% White, 96.44% African American, 0.67% Native American, 0.22% Asian, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.67% of the population.
There were 157 households out of which 37.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 14.0% were married couples
living together, 50.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.1% were non-families. 24.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 3.39.
In the city the population was spread out with 38.3% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 21.4% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females there were 98.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $10,156, and the median income for a family was $11,875. Males had a median income of $22,500 versus $12,031 for females. The per capita income
for the city was $8,798. About 77.5% of families and 81.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 82.9% of those under age 18 and 26.9% of those age 65 or over.
St. Louis County, Missouri
St. Louis County is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. Its county seat is Clayton. St. Louis County is part of the St. Louis Metro Area wherein the independent City of St. Louis and its suburbs in St. Louis County, as well as the surrounding counties in both Missouri and Illinois all...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. The population was 298 at the 2010 census.
Kinloch is the oldest African-American community to be incorporated in the state of Missouri and was home to a vibrant and flourishing black community for much of the 19th and 20th century. It is the hometown of California Congresswoman Maxine Waters
Maxine Waters
Maxine Waters is the U.S. Representative for , and previously the 29th district, serving since 1991. She is a member of the Democratic Party....
.
In the 1980s, the City of St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
began to buy out property in Kinloch as part of the expansion of Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is a Class B international airport serving Greater St. Louis. It is located approximately northwest of downtown St. Louis in unincorporated St. Louis County between Berkeley and Bridgeton. It is the largest and busiest airport in the state with 250 daily...
, dramatically reducing Kinloch's size. Eventually the airport took the vast majority of private homes in Kinloch. Between 1990 and 2000, Kinloch lost more than 75 percent of its population. The social and economic effects of this buyout were disastrous for the community and contributed more than anything else to its present plight.
Kinloch became an increasingly violent and dangerous place to live, infested with drugs and crime. The police department faced numerous investigations, and over a 20-year period a number of officers were arrested on corruption charges. Kinloch reached a low point in September 2002 when St. Louis County police chief Ron Battelle directed his department to take control of law enforcement in Kinloch. The city's population had dwindled to 449, and there was talk of disincorporation, which was renewed in 2011, when Mayor Keith Conway faced federal charges for using city funds to pay for personal expenses, including a vacation home in Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
.
In recent years, there have been efforts to rebuild the city. Faith Beyond Walls, a community service organization, has been instrumental in mobilizing volunteers to assist with these efforts. The county police presence remains, though Kinloch continues to operate its own police department, and city officials say it is nearly ready to stand on its own.
The City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kinloch, Berkeley
Berkeley, Missouri
Berkeley is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,978 at the 2010 census. Portions of Lambert-St...
and Ferguson
Ferguson, Missouri
Ferguson is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 21,203 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Ferguson is located at ....
reached agreement on a redevelopment
Redevelopment
Redevelopment is any new construction on a site that has pre-existing uses.-Description:Variations on redevelopment include:* Urban infill on vacant parcels that have no existing activity but were previously developed, especially on Brownfield land, such as the redevelopment of an industrial site...
plan for 600 acres (2.4 km²) of land on the northeast corner of I-70
Interstate 70 in Missouri
In the U.S. state of Missouri, Interstate 70 is generally parallel to the Missouri River. This section of the transcontinental Interstate has its western terminus at the Kansas state line on the Lewis and Clark Viaduct, concurrent with U.S...
and I-170
Interstate 170
Interstate 170 is the designation for an interstate route in the St. Louis, Missouri metropolitan area. I-170, also known as the Inner Belt Expressway, is an highway traveling north–south through the St. Louis suburbs of Hazelwood, Berkeley, St...
, along the eastern edge of the airport. Years ago, this land was part of the airport buyout. The redevelopment will offer office, retail, and industrial space and is expected to create about 12,000 jobs, along with tax revenue to be split among the municipalities. The developers, NorthPark Partners, intend to make improvements in Kinloch and donate a new civic center to Kinloch.
History
The current city of Kinloch developed from the 1890s Kinloch Park commuter suburb. A Mrs. "B" and her husband were rumored to be the first black family to purchase a home in Kinloch Park. As soon as the neighbors discovered the new owners were black they sold their properties, and new sales to permanent white residents of south Kinloch Park ceased. In a few years, more than 30 black families had bought into a six-block area which became called South Kinloch Park. Kinloch, as an African American community, developed out of a land purchase model similar to the Brooklyn, IllinoisBrooklyn, Illinois
Brooklyn , is a village in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States. Located just 2 miles north of East St. Louis, Illinois and 3 miles northeast of Downtown St. Louis, Missouri, it is the oldest town incorporated by African Americans in the United States...
model.
Since it was not legal to sell directly to blacks, the Olive Street Terrace Realty Corporation sold the parcels to whites on average for $150 who then in turn privately sold the plots to blacks on average for $350. This allowed the company to use the white people's loans as collateral
Collateral (finance)
In lending agreements, collateral is a borrower's pledge of specific property to a lender, to secure repayment of a loan.The collateral serves as protection for a lender against a borrower's default - that is, any borrower failing to pay the principal and interest under the terms of a loan obligation...
for further bank notes. To get white investors, the company circulated testimonials of investors who paid in $50 towards a parcel and received a $500 to a $1000 return on the investment. In an advertisement to the Argus
St. Louis Argus
St. Louis Argus is an African American-oriented weekly newspaper founded in 1912 by brothers J. E. and William Mitchell. The Argus is the oldest continuous black business in St. Louis, Missouri....
, Olive Street Terrace Realty states:
The good colored people of South Kinloch Park have built themselves a little city of which they have a right to be proud. More than a hundred homes, three churches and a splendid public school have been built in a few years.
The original Kinloch Park development had Kinloch Track which was dedicated to the sport of horse racing
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...
. When the sport was made illegal in the state of Missouri the Kinloch Airfield took over the grounds. The Aero Club of Saint Louis hosted the first international air meet in October 1910, where Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...
was the first American President to fly in an airplane. Pilot Arch Hoxsey flew the president around for over three minutes in one of the Wright Brothers
Wright brothers
The Wright brothers, Orville and Wilbur , were two Americans credited with inventing and building the world's first successful airplane and making the first controlled, powered and sustained heavier-than-air human flight, on December 17, 1903...
' total fleet of six planes they had brought in.
The Kinloch Airfield was known for several other firsts, including the first control tower
Control tower
A control tower, or more specifically an Air Traffic Control Tower , is the name of the airport building from which the air traffic control unit controls the movement of aircraft on and around the airport. Control towers are also used to control the traffic for other forms of transportation such...
, the first meal served on a flight, the first airmail
Airmail
Airmail is mail that is transported by aircraft. It typically arrives more quickly than surface mail, and usually costs more to send...
shipped, the first parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
jump, the first aerial photo and the first animal airlifted. Albert Bond Lambert
Albert Bond Lambert
Albert Bond Lambert was an American golfer who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics and in the 1904 Summer Olympics.He was also a prominent St. Louis aviator and benefactor of aviation.-Early life:...
was the first person in the Saint Louis area to receive a pilot's license and was a member of the Aero Club of Saint Louis. He and the club leased the field in 1920 and renamed it the Lambert-St. Louis Flying Field in 1923. He purchased the field in 1925 and resold the airfield to the city of Saint Louis at cost without his new improvements on February 7, 1928, where it became the first city operated airport, the precursor of today's Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is a Class B international airport serving Greater St. Louis. It is located approximately northwest of downtown St. Louis in unincorporated St. Louis County between Berkeley and Bridgeton. It is the largest and busiest airport in the state with 250 daily...
.
Kinloch was home to the 198th chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association UNIA
Unia
Unia , released on May 25, 2007, is the fifth full-length studio album by the power metal band Sonata Arctica, following the album Reckoning Night. The first single from the album was "Paid in Full", released on April 27, 2007. The album has more progressive metal styles than their previous work...
, with Elijah Woodson chairing. The organization fostered black-owned businesses in the area.
A good deal of Kinloch history circles about education. In 1902 the white residents of Kinloch Park decided to withdraw from the neighboring Ferguson
Ferguson, Missouri
Ferguson is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 21,203 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Ferguson is located at ....
school district and found their own schools. The Nuroad school was founded for whites, and the Vernon school house, established in 1885 for the education of the black children of the servants to the whites in Kinloch, transferred to the old 2-room school that the white children had used. In 1913 the Dunbar Elementary school, named after Paul Lawrence Dunbar, was established for the black children of South Kinloch. It holds the record as the longest operated school for blacks only. It was still segregated
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
when it closed in 1975. Another Vernon School later opened in 1927 to educate the black students of Kinloch and west Ferguson. Although the U.S. Supreme Court had ordered desegregation
Desegregation
Desegregation is the process of ending the separation of two groups usually referring to races. This is most commonly used in reference to the United States. Desegregation was long a focus of the American Civil Rights Movement, both before and after the United States Supreme Court's decision in...
in 1954, the school remained segregated till it closed in 1967. Even though the Kinloch schools remained segregated, the Kinloch students took part in a court-ordered busing program to desegregate other school districts.
In 1924 Kinloch was the first community in Missouri to elect a black man to its school board. He was the Reverend Walter Johnson and later a vocal critic of Kinloch's refusal to build a high school for its black students. By 1938 South Kinloch was about to elect a second black board member while the district was 543 black students to 349 whites. This was when the white north put on the ballot an attempt to split the school district. This third attempt to divide the district by the protesting and minority whites who attended Nuroad School ended in failure, with 415 unanimous votes against in the black south and 215 unanimous votes for in the white north. This failure to split the districts led to the foundation of a new municipality called Berkeley
Berkeley, Missouri
Berkeley is an inner-ring suburb of St. Louis, located in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States. The population was 8,978 at the 2010 census. Portions of Lambert-St...
, which included all of North Kinloch Park plus land to the northwest and which formed a new school district. This is when South Kinloch Park became Kinloch.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2010, there were 229 people, in the 2000 census there were 448 people, 157 households, and 116 families residing in the city. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 616.5 people per square mile (237.5/km²). There were 231 housing units at an average density of 317.2 per square mile (122.2/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 1.78% White, 96.44% African American, 0.67% Native American, 0.22% Asian, and 0.89% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.67% of the population.
There were 157 households out of which 37.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 14.0% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 50.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.1% were non-families. 24.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.86 and the average family size was 3.39.
In the city the population was spread out with 38.3% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 21.4% from 25 to 44, 20.5% from 45 to 64, and 8.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 26 years. For every 100 females there were 98.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $10,156, and the median income for a family was $11,875. Males had a median income of $22,500 versus $12,031 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the city was $8,798. About 77.5% of families and 81.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 82.9% of those under age 18 and 26.9% of those age 65 or over.