When a mob lynched John Buckner in 1894, hanging him from a bridge over the Meramec River, newspaper accounts described the reaction from the residents of Valley Park. They were unbothered by the killing of the 21-year-old Black man.
鈥淲henever the lynching of John Buckner is talked of,鈥� , 鈥渋t is discussed as a good work well done.鈥�
Nearly 130 years later, cities across the country, including in the St. Louis region, are reckoning with the legacy of the lynchings that swept the nation after the Civil War. According to the Equal Justice Initiative, which is leading a national effort to establish memorials to lynching victims,
鈥淢issouri had the highest number of lynchings of any state outside the South,鈥� said Geoff Ward, a professor of African and African American Studies at Washington University. He is also a member of the Reparative Justice Coalition of St. Louis, which is working with the Equal Justice Initiative to place local memorials.
Their effort to memorialize John Buckner in Valley Park has hit a roadblock.
鈥淭he response we received from Valley Park was that they were not supportive of us placing a marker in the boundaries of the city,鈥� Ward said, 鈥渂ecause their conclusion is that the lynching did not occur within the city of Valley Park.鈥�
Valley Park, , rejected the coalition鈥檚 request to place a memorial on the northern side of the riverbank. Although the coalition cited 1894 news accounts of the mob鈥檚 movement through Valley Park 鈥� as well as the residents鈥� reported approval of Buckner鈥檚 lynching 鈥� the city has stayed firm.
After the issue was covered by the Post-Dispatch, Elizabeth Simons, Great Rivers Greenway鈥檚 community program manager, reached out to Valley Park in hope of restarting the conversation. The nonprofit had been rejected when it sought a permit from Valley Park to put Buckner鈥檚 memorial near the Arnold鈥檚 Grove Trailhead of the Meramec Greenway.
The response to Simons, issued by Valley Park City Attorney Tim Engelmeyer on Sept. 29, stated that, 鈥淲e are willing to listen to ideas on this marker,鈥� but still repeated the city鈥檚 opposition to the proposed location. Engelmeyer maintained, , that Buckner was not actually lynched there, but in St. Louis County on the other side of the river.
Engelmeyer also noted that a Valley Park resident had objected to the memorial because Buckner had been accused of sexual assault. Buckner was never formally charged before a mob dragged him out of a jail in Manchester and transported him through Valley Park on the way to his hanging.
鈥淲e cannot pretend that our history is perfect and sugarcoat these events,鈥� Simons said Monday on St. Louis on the Air. 鈥淭hat makes people think that things weren't a big deal, or can never happen again.鈥�
To hear more from Geoff Ward and Elizabeth Simons, listen to St. Louis on the Air on , or or by clicking the play button below.
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by , , , and . is our production assistant. The audio engineer is . Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
