Before it was a shopping center, the area currently occupied by the Promenade at Brentwood was known as Evans Howard Place. In 1997, developers bought out the homes that had kept middle-class Black families thriving there for generations.
In 1998, Brentwood officials quietly commemorated a plaque set on a small rock near the shopping center’s exit. The rock was so out of the way — tucked between a lighting store and liquor market — that Allison Reed didn’t know it even existed until efforts to replace it began around 2019.
“Life was great,” Reed told guest host Jeremy D. Goodwin. She grew up in Evans Howard Place in the 1960s and lived there for decades. “We played outside with our friends, we went to church, we went to school. We were in the house before the streetlights came on. And everybody knew everybody.”
Efforts to honor the legacy of the historic Black neighborhood have been complicated. The 1998 memorial lacked involvement from the community’s former residents, and its size and location never seemed to live up to its purpose.
“The plaque fell off last summer; people pass by it every day. And they have no idea what it commemorates,” said Beth Miller, a writer whose research into the history of Evans Howard Place led to a gathering of former residents in 2019.
That meeting produced a new mission: building an improved, more representative memorial to honor Evans Howard Place.
“When we got together a few years ago and started talking about a new monument, we said it’s our first priority to have the former residents a part of this process to build a monument. We wanted to know what they want, what they wanted to see, and how they best wanted to be remembered.”
On Saturday, a crowd of former residents gathered in the shopping center for the unveiling of the new monument, whose brick pillars are intended to evoke the Evans & Howard Brick Co. Its new location, behind Micro Center, means “people will actually see it,” Miller said.
To hear more from Allison Reed and Beth Miller, including comments from former residents of Evans Howard Place, listen to the full St. Louis on the Air conversation on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast or click the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Ulaa Kuziez is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr. Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
