Title

Peoples Finance Building

Description

People’s Finance Building, 1926-1960

The People’s Finance Building was an office building full of African American businesses that served Mill Creek Valley and the larger St. Louis area. The building was completed around 1926 and eventually housed the Peoples Finance Corporation, the offices of the St. Louis American, the St. Louis Argus, and the St. Louis branches of the NAACP, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, the Colored Motion Picture Operators, and the St. Louis March on Washington Movement. The building was also home to desegregated restaurants and a banquet hall, giving African Americans a place to socialize and do business freely. The building was condemned in 1959 after the offices had mostly closed. It was blighted and demolished in 1960, joining the rest of the once-thriving Mill Creek Valley in memory.

Creator

Jim Gass

Subject

Historic Marker Nominations

People’s Finance Building

Mill Creek Valley

St. Louis History

Peoples Finance Corporation

St. Louis American

St. Louis Argus

NAACP

Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters

Colored Motion Picture Operators

St. Louis March on Washington Movement

Desegregation

Black Businesses

Neighborhood History

Demolitions

Language

English

Publisher

UMSL Digital Humanities Lab

Date

2020

Identifier

Coordinates: 38.631251, -90.215948