Pruitt-Igoe rose near here between 1954 and 1956 and became one of the most famous symbols of 20th-century American urban policy failure. Built between 1954 and 1956, Pruitt-Igoe consisted of 33 eleven-story towers on 57 acres, designed by Minoru Yamasaki — the same architect who later designed the original World Trade Center towers in New York. The complex was intended to house 15,000 people in modern, sanitary conditions, replacing the overcrowded tenements of the Near North Side.
What happened instead was a catastrophe. The buildings were shoddily constructed and poorly maintained. Elevators broke down and weren't repaired.
Hallways became dangerous. Social services were inadequate. The city's white residents moved to the suburbs, taking the tax base that would have funded maintenance.
Racial segregation had officially been outlawed in public housing, but Pruitt-Igoe became overwhelmingly Black almost immediately. Federal funding formulas punished St. Louis for vacancies rather than incentivizing maintenance. The towers were demolished between 1972 and 1976.
A famous photograph of the implosion — clouds of dust rising over the city — became an icon of architectural and urban planning hubris. The site sat vacant for decades. Today, a new development is underway.
The lessons of Pruitt-Igoe — about poverty, racism, underfunding, and the difference between housing people and supporting communities — are still being learned.