In the 1950's St. Louis under went enormous changes. Since the end of Second World War, problems of industrial decline, crumbling homes, crowded neighborhoods and schools, segregation and racial violence, rising crime and draining revenues all contributed to a troubled city. Large-scale governmental intervention was seen as a way to solving the dilemmas facing St. Louis.

Pittsburgh's successful urban renewal became a model for St. Louis. What was startling was that only recently Pittsburgh had been in dire straits and viewed as being in worse shape than St. Louis was at the close of World War II. Its traffic and smoke problems were worse, property valuations were declining year after year, businesses were moving out, and no major building had occurred for nearly a generation. But between 1945 and 1953, there was over $132 ½ million worth of downtown building in Pittsburgh, while only 14 ½ million was spent in St. Louis. Of the largest 18 American cities, St. Louis was last in capital expenditures for schools, public housing and utilities.

The institution that led Pittsburgh's turn around was the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. In the words of a 1954 Fortune Magazine article, "An uprising of citizens and business leaders resolved that the drift of old age, obsolescence and painlessness must be reversed. Pittsburgh was, indeed, a shining example of what a new civic spirit, and a group of hard-driving businessmen, could accomplish."

In 1954 Civic Progress was formed as a permanent civic organization dedicated to address issues such as the construction of express highways, housing, new business, industrial facilities, and slum clearance.

	Learn how the city grappled with its tranportaton problems on Third Street
	Learn how the city attempted to provide low-income housing at Pruitt-Igoe