• Students should be able to navigate the St. Louis Virtual City Web Site
• Students will identify the significant aspects that contributed to the growth and then decline of the population and industry in St. Louis.
• Students will understand the concepts of urban sprawl, population, migration, immigration, progress, and values. Students will analyze problem-solving skills to city renovation.
• Students will use charts and graphs to study population changes in the past 100 years of St. Louis history.
• Students will examine job openings and closing in the past 100 years and attempt to project changes in the St. Louis job market through 2050.
• Students will analyze the effectiveness of the Mill Creek project.
• Students will examine primary source documents that illustrate the need for reform in business and residential areas of St. Louis in the 1950’s.
• Students will explore the concept “eminent domain”.

Show Me Standards 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 Goals: 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 2.1, 3.1, 3.2 3.5, 3.8

Warm-Up

• Using classroom maps, have students look at major cities in the United States. After students have picked a location for their "move", have students' journal for 10-15 minutes about moving to this city. The city must be in the United States and students should include in their journal what things this city has to make it attractive to them. They could also include reasons to stay in the city.
• Divide your class into two groups that are separate from each other. For the first group, display an image(s) of an urban depressed area. Have this group of students brainstorm about what factors may have caused people and businesses to leave the city. (It would be good to use an area currently located in St. Louis) Have students list what things may pull people and businesses in the area. *(Could also do this lesson with sports teams and discuss the economics of sports) For the second group, display an image of Hollywood, Nashville, New York, Washington D.C., West Palm Beach or another city in the United States that experiences continued growth and have not declined in population or industry. Have this second group brainstorm what they believe are the reasons this city continues expanding and growing.
• When students have completed this activity, bring the class together as a whole and orally or with a classroom sized Venn diagram compare and contrast the two cities.

Process

• Students will take a tour of the Virtual City. While touring the virtual city, students will make a list of characteristics St. Louis had in the 1850’s. (Review if needed lesson on what makes an area a city)
• Students will also look at the demographics on the 1850’s and 1950’s web site and draw conclusions as to what may have been happening in the city at the time to pull people out of the city. Students should explore the web site for information on political climate, the segregation issue and the changes in the St. Louis area.
• Students will read the following excerpts from Mill Creek Perspectives and make observations and draw conclusions about the decision made about Mill Creek. Students should tour the Mill Creek Area.
• Municipal Land Clearance for Redevelopment Law
• $110 Million Urban Renewal Bond (1955)
• Redevelopment Plan For Mill Creek Valley
• Public Hearing Notice (1958)
• Removal Notices (1959)
• Advertisements to Mill Creek Owners (1959)
• Student should read one of the following articles on the Virtual City web site and compose a letter to the editor of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. Students may comment on and take any position they chose as long as they use supporting documentation from the web site. They may write as a politician, lobbyist, supporter, civic leader, Chinese resident or any other ethnic group represented in the model.
• Stadium Area Redevelopment Plan
• Annual City Report of 1959-1960
• Civic Center Redevelopment Corporation
• Opinions from Chinatown residents
• Opinions from Civic leaders
• "Darst Tells the Nation's Mayors..."
• Progress or Decay? St. Louis Must Choose
• The decision rests with the people
• Negro Schools are bulging at the Seams
• Raymond R. Tucker