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A plan to turn MLK Drive in St. Louis into a ‘cultural corridor’ unveils its next ambitious steps 43%
By Danny Wicentowski0%
3/20/2026, 9:53:54 AM
Topics: St Louis On The Air
BS Summary: This article contains 13 faulty reasoning types, including Attempt to Sell a Product or Service, Optimism Bias, and Indoctrination, with Appeal to Emotion as the most egregious example at 12.6% saturation with 71 hits. Analysis detected 450 faulty-reasoning hits from 564 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 46.9% and a BS Rank of 43% (12,076 of 21,198 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 57.00% of the article peer group.
On a recent weekday, Jerry Beaven took a break from renovating a storefront on Dr.
Martin Luther King Drive.
Nearby, a massive Tina Turner mural looked down at the street that Beaven wants to see one day transformed into a bustling hub of activity.
This street is in the heart of the MLK Cultural Boulevard Project.
The plan would transform the area into a "cultural corridor,” said Beaven — a place to enrich the lives of the immediate community while also attracting tourists.
“We’re trying to do the impossible, but it can be done,” he acknowledged.
“Everybody has to have the vision.
So what we're trying to do is show people the vision, and once they see, they'll join in.”
The dream of making this vision a reality began in 2018, said Aaron Williams, president of the nonprofit cultural heritage organization 4TheVille.
“We started having honest conversations with ourselves, that in order to preserve the legacy of this community, you have to preserve the place,” he recalled.
“That conversation was, ‘What good does saving a building, [or] putting a monument up serve if the community is still falling apart?’”
He added, “That's what pushed us to be stewards of something bigger.”
Williams said those early conversations led to a focus on MLK Drive.
Previously Easton Avenue, the road was once a major economic thoroughfare for St.
Louis’ Black communities.
It was already facing decline and disinvestment when it was renamed in 1972 for the assassinated civil rights leader.
Across the country, there are hundreds of streets named after King.
Williams noted that many of them share challenges similar to those in St.
Louis — but he argued that those conditions are no accident.
Streets named after King are “essentially an anthropological mapping of disinvestment,” he said.
“We just picked the areas that our country, our culture, decided not to invest in.
But like everything, an oppressed community always finds the silver lining. ...
I think the name Boulevard Dream reflects that.”
The name originated with Dail Chambers.
As a community liaison for the project, she interviewed residents about their vision for a revitalized MLK Drive.
“My neighbors love their community,” Chambers said.
“They love the color of the brick, they love their families, they love each other.
And a lot of times, when we think of disinvestment, we immediately go to division.
We assume that there's higher crime rates.
We assume that there's more friction and tension because of the lack of resources.”
The project’s next major push is a block party on Saturday.
The event will give attendees a chance to add their own ideas about the makeup of the future corridor, including its layout and features of a future park.
The event will also mark the release of a report detailing the history of the street and community input collected so far by Chambers and other liaisons.
Related event:
What: MLK Cultural Boulevard Block Party
When: 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
March 21
Where: Blvd Dream Info Center (4144 Dr.
Martin Luther King Drive, St Louis, MO 63113)
To hear the full conversation about the MLK Cultural Boulevard Project with Aaron Williams and Dail Chambers, listen to “St.
Louis on the Air” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or YouTube, or click the play button below.
Speakers
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