KWAME is serving as the construction manager and program manager for the entire Brickline Greenway project. The new public art exhibit is the first completed section of the Brickline Greenway that will eventually link a one-mile stretch from Harris-Stowe State University to St. Louis CITY SC’s CITYPARK Stadium in St. Louis, Missouri. The permanent exhibit features art that acknowledges the 1959 displacement of nearly 20,000 Black residents of the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood formerly located at the site. The new Major League Soccer stadium, which will attract up to 22,500 visitors per game, provides a platform to drive exposure and discussion around the artwork.

The more than ten-mile Brickline Greenway will connect 14 city neighborhoods and is part of the Great Rivers Greenway (GRG) network of accessible, car-free paths under development throughout the region to connect St. Louisans’ with schools, workplaces, neighborhoods, civic and cultural institutions. This project is being done in partnership with the City of St. Louis, reimaging streets to work for everyone.

A focal point of the artwork is a monument by St. Louis resident and nationally-acclaimed artist Damon Davis located at the southwest corner of the stadium site. The monument features a series of 10- to 12-foot, black granite and limestone pillars, each in the shape of an hourglass. Interpretive signs, maps and quotes from Mill Creek Valley residents also tell the story of the community that was cleared because of what the city described as “urban renewal.” The name, age and occupation of each resident taken from the 1940 U.S. Census is displayed. Rows of hedges and benches represent the placement of former buildings, with their addresses listed.

The one-mile-long installation will link to historic sites on the Harris-Stowe State University campus, which include some of the only remaining structures from the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood. Davis’ work is also part of Counterpublic 2023, a civic arts exhibition that commissions artists to create and present works in St. Louis that engage the city’s histories and imagine new futures.

The Brickline Greenway is estimated to be completed in seven to 10 years, with three segments expected to open to the public by 2026.