In 1916, the city passed a segregation ordinance stating that no one could move onto a block that was more than 75% populated by another race. However this was overturned just after one year, causing St. Louis to take a different approach, using racial covenants. Racial Convenants are legally binding clauses put into property agreements that prevent someone from buying land or property based on their race. As the great migragtion brought millions of blacks to St. Louis, restrictive covenants dictated where they were to live. As many as 100,000 homes in St. louis County had a restrictive covenant on them saying they were to only to be inhabitated by white people. This prevented many African Americans from purchasing homes south of Delmar Blvd. Eventually, in 1948, the covenants were made illegal by the Supreme Court, but it was too late. The economic desparity of the North was already in place and it would only become worse due to blockbusting. The white-flight of north to south leaves many homes vacant to this day.

Redlining had great influence into the decline in black neighborhoods as well as the segregation itself. Banks and insurers would not give out loans or mortgages to black Americans trying to buy a home in a predominantly white neighborhood. This was a way to get around racial covenants when they eventually became illegal. The banks not loaning money to African Americans trying to start a business is one of the main factors in the economic divide between the north and the south. Without loans there was no way for people to start their businesses which lead directly to the economic growth of neighborhoods. After attending the Ethics event at UMSL one of my key takeaways from speaker Orvin Kimbrough was the importance of banking. He spoke on banking local as then that money will be reinvested into your community. In the 1930s banks did not invest back into black communities and the effects are seen today. Redlining is no longer happening, but its impact is prominent in St. Louis as we see the difference in neighborhoods average family income. 

A major contributor to the Delmar divide was the urban renewal projects of the mid-20th century. While the projects were intended to improve St. Louis they only furthered the inequality and segregation of the city—one of the biggest being the Mill Creek Valley Project. Mill Creek Valley was one of the most diverse neighborhoods in St. Louis. The plan involved demolishing the neighborhood to allow new developments of public housing, highway 40, and Saint Louis University. The displacements of the residents which were predominantly black caused an influx to move north of Delmar. The practice of redlining and restrictive covenants made it difficult for black residents to move south of Delmar Blvd. causing a once diverse neighborhood to be another sign of St. Louis's sad history. 

Another famous urban renewal project was the destruction of Pleasant View to build Interstate 55.  This time, however, the residents were given housing vouchers to the Pruitt-Igoe, a housing project of course on the North Side of St. Louis. This once again forced a predominantly black neighborhood south of Delmar to head north. However, some may argue that they at least got a voucher for affordable public housing and could avoid having to try and get a mortgage, well Pruitt-Igoe lasted less than 20 years. It was filled with crime and extreme poverty. It is said that the sewage filled the hallways. It fell apart not just figuratively but literally. The building collapsed in 1976 and was then demolished. The housing crisis for African Americans was nothing little in the 1900's. Trying to find a home was nothing but easy and its effects are shown in demolished and condemned buildings and houses throughout the North.