Flint, MI
St. John Street Neighborhood and University of Michigan Flint
St. John Street Historical Committee + University of Michigan Flint
The St. John Street Neighborhood in Flint, MI, was a vibrant, racially integrated community. Residents who lived in the St. John Street neighborhood fondly remember it as a “melting pot” of immigrant and Black communities where residents coexisted across racial and economic lines. Civic life revolved around the vibrancy of the schools, places of worship, businesses (markets, bakeries, movie theaters, night clubs), and the beloved St. John Street Community Center. Within decades, the thriving neighborhood would literally be wiped off maps – and all but disappear from historical discourse – a victim of “urban renewal” (urban removal) policies in the mid-20th century, including those carried out by the University of Michigan – Flint. In 2021, the St. John Street Historical Committee (“the Historical Committee”) launched the fight for a full-scale memorial to the neighborhood to ensure that the history is not forgotten and erased. In recent years, The UM-Flint Community Design Studio class has worked with the Historical Committee to both refine its vision for the physical memorial and to inspire new ways of thinking about integrating technology and innovative design elements into the memorial, including QR codes on interpretive signs linking to archives and audio recordings of oral histories, acrylic interpretive signs that allow people to superimpose visuals of what streets looked like decades ago on top of the current landscape, and opportunities for a complementary traveling exhibit.
Updates
Rodney Brown is the executive producer of the documentary titled St. John Street: Story of a Neighborhood, which premiered at the Flint Institute of Arts in August 2024. The film focuses on remembrances and oral histories of former residents of the St. John Street neighborhood. Initially, the film also planned to tackle the political machinations and behind-the-scenes deal-making that led to the destruction of the neighborhood. Due to Brown’s extensive research at the GHCC, a second documentary is now in production. This documentary will feature interviews with former city employees, former city officials, and research experts specializing in urban renewal. With support from the IHP, Brown is currently scheduling interviews, filming interviews, and anticipating more research into the city archives.
In February 2023, Flint Mayor Sheldon Neely announced that a $1-million state grant will be used to begin the development of the St. John Street Memorial Park.