In the aftermath of the May 16 tornado, social media feeds have been filled with photos of the devastation, ways people can help and pleas for folks to protect building materials that may have fallen off their homes and businesses: “Don’t let them come and take your bricks.”
A pallet of bricks sells for about $270. But beyond their monetary value, bricks carry a deeper meaning. They symbolize a bond of people to place.
“A brick is not just a brick,” said architectural and cultural historian Michael Allen, who formerly taught at Washington University and now teaches at West Virginia University. “It is a sort of bond to inhabitation — this right to place that's been officially and unofficially denied over the last 50 years.”
Allen said there is a history of illegal brick harvesting in neighborhoods like the Ville, Jeff-Vander-Lou and St. Louis Place.
For north St. Louis residents affected by the tornado, brick theft is a major concern. Tornado recovery volunteer Deonta’ Watson-Gray said he and other residents have seen people in unfamiliar trucks looking for loose bricks and other building materials.
“When people see that their materials are being taken, or they're saying, ‘I had a pile of bricks here last night, and now I only have a half a pile of bricks here’ — it hurts people,” he said.
Watson-Gray added that the threat of burglary is one reason that many people are staying in houses under tarps, without power, rather than sleeping at a shelter.
“These people love their community. They will literally sit there with nowhere to stay — and sleep outside on their porch or in their car — before they get up and leave and let people come ransack their bricks [and] take all of their property,” he said. “There's nothing like a well-built, clay brick home, especially in north St. Louis. It's just so many memories built inside of those homes.”
The St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said it hasn't had an uptick in property theft calls.
Allen and Watson-Gray on St. Louis on the Air urged residents to collect and stack the bricks on their properties so that they can be used to rebuild.
“We can keep this wealth in the community and rebuild with our own native building material,” Allen said, adding that he’d like to see a brick bank set up to provide residents with a safe place to store their bricks.
“You would not really need a building. You just need some shelter for the softer bricks [and] a fairly substantial outdoor area with a secured perimeter,” he said. “It's a pretty practical idea. The question is: Who provides the labor? Somebody would have to step in and fund such an operation.”
Allen said he’d like to see the preservation trade come to St. Louis to support recovery efforts. While the city has many trained masons, the scale of rebuilding will require many more. He noted that thousands of masons nationwide are looking for work as the housing market slows.
“That would be a very fun project — to show the world that these houses are not lost, and that St. Louis can rely on the nation,” he said. “So far [in] St, Louis, we've gone from, ‘You're on your own’ to a community response. We've gotten more from the city. We're getting something from the state. We might get something from FEMA eventually, but there's a whole big country out there, and I think other cities have resources to share with St. Louis in this moment.”
For more on the history of St. Louis brick buildings — and what the post-tornado rebuilding process may look like — listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube 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. Jada Jones is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
