Kinloch is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri. The population was 263 as of the 2020 census.
The oldest African-American community to be incorporated in Missouri, Kinloch was home to a vibrant and flourishing Black community for much of the 19th and 20th century. It began to decline in the 1980s, when St. Louis began to buy up property due to an FAA noise-abatement program for nearby St. Louis Lambert International Airport. Between 1990 and 2000, Kinloch lost more than 80 percent of its population, and the city became an increasingly violent and dangerous place to live. In recent years, there have been efforts to rebuild the city.
History
The current city of Kinloch grew up around Kinloch Park, a commuter suburb first developed in the 1890s.
A Mrs. "B" and her husband are thought to be the first black family to purchase a home in Kinloch Park. As soon as the neighbors discovered the new owners were black they sold their properties, and new sales to permanent white residents of south Kinloch Park ceased. In a few years, more than 30 black families had bought into a six-block area that became called South Kinloch Park.
Kinloch, as an African-American community, developed out of a land purchase model similar to the Brooklyn, Illinois model. Since it was not legal to sell directly to blacks, the Olive Street Terrace Realty Corporation sold the parcels to whites for an average price of $150. The new owners then sold the plots to Blacks for an average of $350. This allowed the company to use the white people's loans as collateral for further bank notes. To get white investors, the company circulated testimonials of investors who paid in $50 towards a parcel and received returns of $500 to $1,000 on the investment.
The Kinloch Airfield saw the first control tower, the first meal served on a flight, the first airmail shipped, the first parachute jump, the first aerial photo and the first animal airlifted.
Kinloch was home to the 198th chapter of the Universal Negro Improvement Association UNIA, which fostered black-owned businesses in the area. The chapter chairman was Elijah Woodson.
In 1902, the white residents of Kinloch Park decided to withdraw from the neighboring Ferguson school district and built the Nuroad school for whites. Their two-room school was given to black students, who were using the 1885 Vernon schoolhouse built for the children of the servants to the whites in Kinloch. In 1913, the Dunbar Elementary school, named after Paul Laurence Dunbar, was established for the black children of South Kinloch. Still segregated when it closed in 1975, it holds the record as the longest-operated school for blacks only.
In 1924, Kinloch became the first community in Missouri to elect a black man to its school board: the Reverend Walter Johnson, who later became a vocal critic of Kinloch's refusal to build a high school for its black students.
Another Vernon School opened in 1927 to educate the black students of Kinloch and west Ferguson. Although the U.S. Supreme Court had ordered desegregation in 1954, the school remained segregated until it closed in 1967.
In 1938, South Kinloch was poised to elect a second black board member, with a district that was 543 Black students to 349 whites. This was when the white north put on the ballot an attempt to split the school district. This third attempt to divide the district by the protesting and minority whites who attended Nuroad School ended in failure, with 415 unanimous votes against in the black south and 215 unanimous votes for in the white north. This led to the foundation of a new municipality called Berkeley, which included all of North Kinloch Park plus land to the northwest and which formed a new school district. South Kinloch Park became Kinloch.
In recent years, there have been efforts to rebuild the city. Faith Beyond Walls, a community service organization, has been instrumental in mobilizing volunteers to assist with these efforts.
The City of St. Louis, St. Louis County, Kinloch, Berkeley and Ferguson reached agreement on a redevelopment plan for of land on the northeast corner of I-70 and I-170, along the eastern edge of the airport. Years ago, this land was part of the airport buyout. The redevelopment will offer office, retail, and industrial space and is expected to create about 12,000 jobs, along with tax revenue to be split among the municipalities. The developers, NorthPark Partners, intend to make improvements in Kinloch and donate a new civic center to Kinloch. The impeachment hearing was canceled in June 2015, leading McCray to file suit in St. Louis County Circuit Court, asking Judge John D. Warner to require the city to dismiss the impeachment proceeding and to provide access to her office in Kinloch City Hall, as well as barring the city attorney James Robinson from prosecuting her.
Public safety
Since October 1, 2018 the City of Kinloch is patrolled by the St. Louis County Police Department, replacing the Kinloch Police Department. In 2016, local media reported that Kinloch used donated police cars that it did not register or insure, and operated without paying into the state's workers' compensation fund, making officers injured on the job were responsible for their own medical bills.
The City of Kinloch has been served by the Kinloch Fire Protection District since April 1944. The Kinloch Fire Protection District is a single-house combination fire service, with one Pumper and a Pumper-Tanker. Prior to 2021 the District was served only by their now Pumper-Tanker, when the District's Pumper was unavailable they were covered by the neighboring Ferguson Fire Department. In mid-May 2021, the Kinloch Fire Protection District welcomed its new Rescue Pumper "Roy" into service.
Notable people
- Barrett Brooks, professional football player
- Roy Clay, Silicon Valley pioneer
- Jenifer Lewis, American film and television actress
- Ann Peebles, American recording artist
- Maxine Waters, California congresswoman
- Huey, American rapper and recording artist
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land.
Demographics
2020 census
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+Kinloch city, Missouri – Racial and ethnic composition<br><small></small>
!Race / Ethnicity <small>(NH = Non-Hispanic)</small>
!Pop 2000
!Pop 2010
!
!% 2000
!% 2010
!
|-
|White alone (NH)
|8
|10
|style='background: #ffffe6; |78
|1.78%
|3.36%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |29.66%
|-
|Black or African American alone (NH)
|430
|282
|style='background: #ffffe6; |147
|95.77%
|94.63%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |55.89%
|-
|Native American or Alaska Native alone (NH)
|3
|1
|style='background: #ffffe6; |1
|0.67%
|0.34%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.38%
|-
|Asian alone (NH)
|1
|2
|style='background: #ffffe6; |7
|0.22%
|0.67%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2.66%
|-
|Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.00%
|-
|Other race alone (NH)
|0
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |2
|0.00%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |0.76%
|-
|Mixed race or Multiracial (NH)
|4
|3
|style='background: #ffffe6; |10
|0.89%
|1.01%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |3.80%
|-
|Hispanic or Latino (any race)
|3
|0
|style='background: #ffffe6; |18
|0.67%
|0.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |6.84%
|-
|Total
|449
|298
|style='background: #ffffe6; |263
|100.00%
|100.00%
|style='background: #ffffe6; |100.00%
|}
2010 census
As of the census of 2010, there were 298 people, 105 households, and 67 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 177 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.6% African American, 3.4% white, 0.3% Native American, 0.7% Asian, and 1.0% from two or more races.
There were 105 households, of which 36.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 19.0% were married couples living together, 31.4% had a female householder with no husband present, 13.3% had a male householder with no wife present, and 36.2% were non-families. 32.4% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.84 and the average family size was 3.63.
The median age in the city was 31.8 years. 31.9% of residents were under the age of 18; 9.8% were between the ages of 18 and 24; 21.8% were from 25 to 44; 29.8% were from 45 to 64; and 6.7% were 65 years of age or older. The gender makeup of the city was 46.6% male and 53.4% female.
2000 census
As of the census
Education
The city is contained entirely within the Ferguson-Florissant School District.
References
Further reading
- Schuessler, Ryan. "One by one, Missouri’s black towns disappear" (Archive). Al Jazeera. April 5, 2014.
External links
- City of Kinloch
- Kinloch Fire Protection District
- NorthPark Partners
- St. Louis Business Journal article on NorthPark
- Kinloch, Missouri – St Louis Patina