1947: Percy Green II and the Gateway Arch

1900-1999: A New Divide
Written By Stephanie Brizee

Big Idea

As African Americans continued their fight for equal rights, in St. Louis, Percy Green II led a demonstration against the company building the Gateway Arch for their refusal to hire Black workers.

What’s important to know?

  1. Planning for the Arch: St. Louis leaders had long been looking for ways to create a memorial along the Mississippi River and get rid of what they considered “blighted” neighborhoods.

  2. Erased from the Land & Blocked from the Economic Benefit: St. Louis received federal funds to build the Gateway Arch. Local community member, Percy Green II, called attention to the fact that the building destroyed Black neighborhoods and the company building the arch refused to hire Black laborers.

1: Planning for the Arch

Saarinen working with a model of the arch in 1957.

Image Source: Wikipedia

As early as 1935, White St. Louis city leaders and urban developers had discussed creating a memorial along the banks of the Mississippi River. The roots of the Gateway Arch stretch back to the City Beautiful movement of the early 1900’s when Progressive Era politicians and civic organizers strove to improve the aesthetics of St. Louis along with its socioeconomic situation. It wasn’t until the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, however, that the vision of a memorial to America’s past and its future would be designed and built. 

On September 27, 1947, a seven-member jury chose Eero Saarinen’s architectural design for the arch from hundreds of submissions. Due to the complexity of the project, it took over ten years to begin work on the arch. Planners had to organize funding, compose a building schedule, and select construction companies for work. Construction began in 1957 and was completed on October 28, 1965. The Gateway Arch opened to the public on July 24, 1967. Total cost of the project is estimated at $13 million ($86.5 million in today’s dollars).

2: Erased from the Land & Blocked from the Economic Benefit

The St. Louis riverfront after demolition.

Image Source: Wikipedia

The Arch represented yet another example of the erasure of Black spaces and the baring of Black people from White-led city development projects. While publicly justifications were made about the amazing opportunity to celebrate the city’s heritage, within the closed doors of the city planning offices, this project was better known as “an enforced slum-clearance program” (Kaplan, 2015).

The land needed for the project covered “40 square blocks of riverside property” all of which was demolished, “including 290 businesses, mainly small factories in historic cast-iron buildings employing some 5,000 workers” (Kaplan, 2015). The city considered the area “condemned,” thereby avoiding paying higher prices required if properties were bought.

Percy Green II

Image Source: Library of Congress

MacDonald Construction Co. of St. Louis won the bid to create the arch. On July 14, 1964 , St. Louis resident Percy Green II and a fellow White college student climbed the still under construction arch to protest the fact that MacDonald had refused to hire any African American workers for the multi-million dollar project. Green worked as an aerospace and aircraft manufacturer at McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) and was in CORE (Congress of Racial Equality). Earlier in July, Congress had passed and President Johnson had signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which forbid discrimination based on race in employment. Green felt that the MacDonald case, which was receiving upwards of $13 million in federal funding was a perfect example of ongoing racism that the law was meant to address (Rivas, 2011).

He was arrested for his actions and a month later fired from his job at McDonnell Douglas. While the company claimed it was due to the need to eliminate positions, Green noted that they continued to advertise for positions in the newspapers. When he applied for a McDonnell Douglas position a year later and was denied, he sued McDonnell Douglas in what has become known as a significant discrimination case: McDonnell v. Green. (Rivas, 2011).

Historian Tracy Campbell wrote one of the definitive histories of the arch. He well summarizes the complex relationship the arch has with the city.

The Gateway Arch stands today as one of the most iconic structures in the world. As a tourist attraction, it has proven a remarkable success . . . yet as a component of urban renewal, it has a different legacy. The gleaming traveler’s destination is now surrounded by a decaying cityscape suffering from outdated concepts of growth. (p. 169) 

Your Turn

What is the significance of the Gateway Arch project? How did it reinforce ongoing segregationist policies? How did Percy Green II force the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to be applied honestly? What did this mean for Black employment?

Stephanie Brizee
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1944: The GI Bill and Urban Spaces
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1948: Segregation in St. Louis and the Black Families Who Challenged It