Content area
Full Text
PRUITT-IGOE RESOLUTION
Ann-Marie Reynolds and her husband, Joseph, both 73, have mixed feelings during their Sunday drive to Sts. Theresa and Bridget Catholic Church on the corner of Grand Avenue and North Market Street. Their drive takes them past the fenced-off site of the old Pruitt-Igoe Housing complex -- their first home after marriage in 1955.
Joe, who now suffers from early-stage Alzheimer's, was a promising welterweight. He was part of the 1952 USA boxing team competing in the Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. As a pro, Joe belonged to the same boxing club as popular heavyweight Sonny Liston and light-heavyweight Jesse Bowdry.
The couple happily moved into one of the 33, 11-story concrete Pruitt-Igoe buildings. Ann-Marie has fond memories of clean apartments, convenient and efficient laundry rooms on designated floors and recreation areas throughout the building where parents chatted as their children played.
Her thoughts are tarnished with memories of how life inside the complex turned ominous. Maintenance decreased and crime escalated. The once safe and clean laundry rooms, recreation areas and metal elevators became populated more and more by thugs and vandals.
Joe had retired from boxing and started his 30-year career as a St. Louis police officer. His cop instincts convinced him it was...