In February, Kwame Building Group completed the first portion of installation of a new public art exhibit, one that will eventually link a one-mile stretch of the Brickline Greenway from Harris-Stowe State University to St. Louis CITY SC’s CITYPARK Stadium downtown.

The permanent exhibit features art that acknowledges the 1959 displacement of nearly 20,000 Black residents of the Mill Creek Valley neighborhood, formerly located at the site. The more than 10-mile Brickline Greenway will connect 14 city neighborhoods and is part of the Great Rivers Greenway network of accessible, car-free paths under development throughout the region.

As construction manager and program manager for the Brickline Greenway project, KWAME is overseeing and directing the project. A focal point of the artwork, located at the southwest corner of the stadium site, is a monument by St. Louis resident and nationally acclaimed artist Damon Davis that features a series of 10- to 12-foot black granite and limestone pillars, each in the shape of an hourglass. Interpretive signs, maps and quotes from Mill Creek Valley residents also tell the story of the community that was cleared because of what the city described as “urban renewal.”

The entire Brickline Greenway is estimated to be completed in seven to 10 years, with three segments open to the public by 2026.