Event at the Mary Brown Center
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On February 25, 1971 the designers of the Old Man River and community members from East St. Louis gathered at the Mary Brown Center to discuss the projected idea of a domed city.
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2020-05-09T04:26:33+00:00
Buckminster Fuller's utopian vision of the Old Man River's City Project collided with the pragmatic realism of the East St. Louis community at the Mary Brown Center on February 25, 1971. The Mary Brown Center, located in East St. Louis, is one of Fuller’s many successful geodesic domes. Residents and concerned citizens of the community gathered to
observe the unveiling of the proposed housing solution which included a panel presentation, photos, drawings and models of the innovative design developed by Fuller and Fitzgibbon, assisted by several students and faculty members at Washington University.
The presentation panel started with Fuller speaking to the community regarding the background and aspirations of the project.
“Frankly speaking I think it’s a good idea.”-East St Louis Citizen*
He then answered questions from the residents of the city. Various community members voiced concerns with the project as they perceived the design of the dome as prison-like.
“I don’t want to see the whole city in a dome but i[t] would make a good tourist attraction to boost the ESL economy. Perhaps recreational facilities, cultural, and historical facilities could be built or moved into this dome."- East St. Louis Citizen*
Many citizens of East St. Louis at the event were anxious that if the project moved forward, they would lose their homes.
“Whatever we come up with must be unique to draw people back into E. St. Louis. Then too I’m concerned about what the dome will hold, how far will it extend? Here's hoping it or whatever that’s built will take in downtown area. For a population as large as ours, Our shopping district looks terrible. I also believe by building the dome we will attract enough visitors and industry to come back into East St. Louis”-East St. Louis Citizen*
According to interviews with some of the students and faculty who were present at the event, the project’s ambitious concepts did not represent the solution the community felt were needed.
“Mr. Fuller will probably get the same reaction that Eads got when he started building the bridge across the river.”-East St. Louis Citizen*
In retrospect, the domed city was an overarching answer that did not correspond to a more focused question. The city required dedicated funds from the state to help rebuild and restructure from the ground up, not encompass the community in a dome. The event at the Mary Brown Center stood as a test for the ideas of the Old Man River's City project, the feedback the designer team received forced them to make drastic design changes to the model. “My feeling is that land ownership is and has been the prime source of wealth for a nation or a people. I see no way that the residents of the city will profit from living in “old man river”. The Jews in Germany thought they were taking showers instead they were gassed. Take the top of[f] the[n] there is no need to feel paranoid. The residents can develop a dependency syndrome unless able to step outside and make the amount of money I am sure it would take in order to be a resident. Upon the building of this, who will own the land? Where will many of the inhabitants work? I hear that this is a 50,000,0000 dollar project. Have you heard of the city the N.A.A.C.P is building outside of Chicago? Why not develop an idea of this type for E. St. Louis... I can’t give my approval until the above questions have been answered.”-East St. Louis Citizen*
One of those design changes was to raise the dome off the ground, thus negating the desired use of the dome as an energy-efficient means of sustaining the community. The event was an example of what happens when idealism and theory meet real-world problems.
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*All of the East St. Louis citizens quoted on this page were present at the initial meeting held at the Mary Brown Center, February 25, 1971. Their comments were hand written and passed on to Buckminster Fuller by Wyvetter Younge. The quotes have been deciphered to the best of our ability.
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