Tagged: Bound by Division

The St. Louis metro area is considered Missouri’s economic engine.  But, it’s in constant competition with both Kansas City and rural areas for state dollars for schools, roads and other needs.

Financial interests are not the only things that drive a wedge between city and country dwellers.  In this installment of our series “Bound by Division,” St. Louis Public Radio’s Marshall Griffin looks at how the divide between urban and rural interests often comes to a head in Jefferson City.

Jack Straughter was a pipefitter in the 1960s when he and his wife were looking for a new house for their family of seven, and so he could have afforded to live almost anywhere in the city of St. Louis.  But as a black man, there were places he never considered looking.