Convention Center Follies: Politics, Power, and Public Investment in American Cities

Chapter 8. St. Louis: Protection from Erosion

C h a p t e r 8 St. Louis: Protection from Erosion Writing to St. Louis Mayor A. J. Cervantes in March 1966, architect Arthur Schwarz announced, “our studies in connection with Union Station were looking ‘mighty good.’” Schwarz told Cervantes that his firm was making “a reasonably comprehensive study of convention centers, sports centers, merchandise marts and convention hotels throughout the country,” and that “I am convinced more than ever that St. Louis has to move forward in these areas in a large way if we are to take advantage of the potentials of tourism and convention business. As I see it, there is no reason why St. Louis cannot attain the number one spot in the country in this regard.”1 Schwarz headed one of the most prominent architectural firms in the city, and had been involved in a number of major development projects, including the design of Busch Stadium. His interest and focus was on a particular client and a specific site—the city’s grand Union Station. But his vision was shared more broadly within the local business community.2 Writing to Schwarz in July 1966, Gordon Hopper, executive director of Downtown St. Louis Inc., quoted Amusement Business magazine on San Diego ’s new center, saying, “But San Diego has no Arch and convention spending has doubled to $40 million in that city since its Community Concourse convention center opened a year ago January”—and adding, “Powerful statement to sell the economic impact of a convention and exhibit center.”3 The proposal that Arthur Schwarz presented to the Terminal Railroad Association in June 1966 described the declining fortunes of a rail station that had accommodated some 280 daily trains in 1929, but by 1965 was serving less than 75.4 But if its future as a passenger facility appeared grim, its location and scale offered a particularly attractive development opportunity—as the site for a convention center, hotel, merchandise mart, and possible 342 Chapter 8 Figure 4. entertainment center. Architect Schwarz was notably enthusiastic about the city’s convention potential, noting that “the revival of downtown St. Louis is in itself creating a new exciting environment,” with the Gateway Arch itself expected to “attract three to six million visitors a year.” He concluded, “Therefore if St. Louis while currently developing related convention assets such as the Arch, Stadium, Spanish Pavilion and the Gateway Mall does not move forward with new convention facilities it will not only lessen its convention potential but will minimize the importance of these newer assets.”5 Arthur Schwarz’s scheme for a multiuse project built around a new convention center came at a time—mid-1966—when St. Louis and its top business leaders were focused on the possibilities of developing the city and its downtown core as a major visitor destination. That business leadership was well organized, and fully focused on using the city government as a means of sustaining downtown as the economic heart of the region. That business commitment to downtown and the use of public dollars to support and “develop ” it has continued for almost five decades. St. Louis: Protection from Erosion 343 Organizing Business The formal organization of top business leaders in St. Louis began in 1952, when a small group of them visited Pittsburgh to see the work of Richard King Mellon, heir to the Mellon fortune, and that city’s business leadership group, the Allegheny Conference on Community Development. Their reaction was that St. Louis needed a similar organization, to address the city’s problems and begin a program of major public investment. Mayor Joseph Darst formally appointed a “sponsoring committee” in January 1953, including Sidney Baer, vice-chair of the Stix, Baer and Fuller department store chain, Arthur Blumeyer of the Bank of St. Louis, Powell McHaney of General American Life Insurance, David Calhoun, president of St. Louis Union Trust Company, and former Mayor Aloys Kaufmann. The group’s initial foray involved backing a 1953 urban renewal bond issue to rebuild a section of downtown.6 The failure of the March 1953 urban renewal bond vote and the election of a new mayor, Washington University professor and political reformer Raymond Tucker, in April 1953 led to the recommitment of the business leadership , and the expansion of the “sponsoring committee.” With the addition of August Busch of Anheuser-Busch, Edwin Clark of Southwestern Bell Telephone , Donald Danforth of Ralston-Purina, Sidney Mastre...