VALLEY PARK 鈥 In the early hours of Jan. 17, 1894, a mob lynched a 24-year-old Black man named John Buckner, hours after he鈥檇 been accused of raping a Black woman and attempting to rape a white woman. Buckner was hanged from a bridge that spanned a stretch of the Meramec River just south of the historic town of Valley Park.
Now, a coalition of historians and activists wants to erect a plaque memorializing the location 鈥 now along a popular recreational trail 鈥 as part of an ongoing effort to highlight the wave of lynchings that once roiled the nation. But there鈥檚 one problem: the City of Valley Park 鈥 so far 鈥 won鈥檛 let them.
The city insists the lynching didn鈥檛 happen in Valley Park, but south of the current municipal border on the Meramec River, in unincorporated 狐狸视频 County. When the coalition asked to meet city officials to discuss evidence behind putting the marker in Valley Park, the city declined. Parks Director Gil DeNormandie on Monday directed the group to send any further requests to the city鈥檚 attorney.
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鈥淭his has nothing to do with opposing the historical marker or the goal behind it. What is has to do with is accuracy,鈥 Tim Engelmeyer, the city attorney, told the Post-Dispatch in a recent interview. 鈥淭he reason why it was denied was they鈥檙e wanting to put a marker in a spot where it didn鈥檛 even occur.鈥
To members of , historical documents clearly tie the lynching to Valley Park by name. And the city鈥檚 refusal to meet undermines what they say is an effort to educate people about extrajudicial killings of Black men and promote dialogue about racial inequities in American society.
鈥淲e think that this commemorative work is part of a reparative process that helps our community heal from this historical trauma and create a new legacy out of that process of reflection and healing,鈥 said Geoff Ward, professor of African and African American Studies at Washington University and a member of the Reparative Justice Coalition.
The discussion over placing the Buckner marker in Valley Park is the latest incident in a broader debate in the region and across the country over how to reckon with legacies of slavery and anti-Black racism. About 86% of Valley Park鈥檚 6,800 residents are white, and about 8.5% are Black, .
The Buckner memorial would be donated to the , a nonprofit criminal justice reform group based in Montgomery, Alabama. that operates the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, focused on lynchings across the country. The Equal Justice Initiative is also partnering with local groups to place historical markers that 鈥渁ddress the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation鈥 across the country.
The city of 狐狸视频 agreed to the Reparative Justice Coalition鈥檚 request to install a marker recognizing the lynching of Francis L. McIntosh, who was tied to a tree and burned to death on April 28, 1836, in an area that is now Kiener Plaza downtown. McIntosh, a free Black man and steamboat cook, had been arrested for allegedly stabbing a sheriff鈥檚 deputy to death during a scuffle on the levee before the mob took him. Elsewhere in Missouri, Boone County officials next month will unveil a marker outside the county courthouse in Columbia that recognizes the 1889 lynching of George Bush, a Black teenager accused of assaulting a white girl.
David Cunningham, chair of the sociology department at Washington University and a member of the Reparative Justice Coalition, held up the Valley Park example during an Aug. 26 meeting of the 狐狸视频 Reparations Commission, a new panel studying how to best make up for generations of slavery and racial segregation in the city.
The responses by the cities of 狐狸视频 and Valley Park, Cunningham said, showed the difference between 鈥渁 violent history that can be addressed, identified, given voice and repaired 鈥 and a violent history where silence is maintained through the efforts of elites, of people who are in the leadership of these communities that refuse to allow voice to be given to these kinds of histories.鈥
鈥楢 lynching in 狐狸视频 County鈥
Buckner was one of at least 68 documented Black victims of racist lynchings in Missouri between 1863 and 1950, according to the Equal Justice Initiative.
Born in 1870 to one of the earliest free Black families settling in 狐狸视频 County, Buckner lived with his parents and siblings along Hawkins Road, roughly 3 miles south of Valley Park鈥檚 modern-day border on the Meramec, in what was then largely farmland, according to the coalition.
By Jan. 18, 1894, the day after he died, newspapers had reported on the killing as a form of vigilante justice by the community around Valley Park, then a river and railroad outpost in a rural part of unincorporated 狐狸视频 County. Valley Park was incorporated as a city in 1917.
The reports recounted how a mob kidnapped Buckner from a holding cell in Manchester, an older town a few miles north, and then traveled back south through Valley Park to the Meramec, where they hanged him from a bridge. A county grand jury later concluded there was no wrongdoing. No one was ever charged.
In 1889, at age 19, Buckner was convicted of assault with attempt to rape a Black school teacher, and served three years in prison, according to newspaper reports.
Five years later, on Jan. 16, 1894, Allie Harrison, the daughter of a white farmer for whom Buckner had worked, accused Buckner of attempting earlier that day to rape her until she fought him off. Her father, William Harrison, rode north to Manchester to seek a warrant for Buckner鈥檚 arrest before returning to Valley Park to assist people searching the woods for Buckner.
As the allegations spread, an older Black woman who lived near Buckner鈥檚 family home, Delia Mungo, also identified Buckner as the man who had raped her earlier that day. The local constable went to Buckner鈥檚 family鈥檚 home and arrested him to take him to a judge in Manchester.
As they passed through Valley Park, they were harassed by an angry crowd that eventually dispersed at the constable鈥檚 pleading. In Manchester, a judge ordered Buckner taken to the county jail in Clayton, but because it was already night, it was decided Buckner would be held in a cellar until daybreak.
Meanwhile, 鈥渁 quiet movement to lynch Buckner was being put through at Valley Park,鈥 the Post-Dispatch reported. And in the overnight hours, a crowd of 20 to 30 people, armed, broke into the building, held guards at gunpoint and kidnapped Buckner. The mob included Black participants, newspapers reported; Mungo told a reporter her husband was among them.
Buckner 鈥渨as quickly hustled into a wagon which was in waiting at the door and the mob drove off toward Valley Park in high glee,鈥 the 狐狸视频 Globe-Democrat reported.
The group 鈥渕oved back to Valley Park, where they arrived at 4:30 (a.m.),鈥 the Post-Dispatch said. Then they moved onto the bridge, where Buckner was hanged.
At daylight, crowds gathered to see Buckner鈥檚 body, the paper wrote, 鈥... train crews passing Valley Park saw the corpse swinging with the wind and knew that swift retribution had been dealt out for the most fiendish double criminal assault in the history of 狐狸视频 County.鈥
A week later, a grand jury concluded there was no need to investigate. 鈥淲e have examined a large number of witnesses on the unfortunate lynching of the man Buckner, which lately occurred at Valley Park, and we have not been able to find any evidence sufficient to justify an indictment in the premises,鈥 the grand jury said, the Globe-Democrat reported.
鈥楾o help bring awareness鈥
Today, the Reparative Justice Coalition wants to set Equal Justice Initiative鈥檚 marker in what they say is the most historically accurate and the most accessible site: at Arnold鈥檚 Grove Trailhead to the Meramec Greenway within sight of where Highway 141 crosses the river. The current bridge, they said, replaced the historic wagon bridge where Buckner was killed.
Valley Park officials told the group to contact the county to instead put the marker in Buder Park. But Buder Park is less historically accurate and doesn鈥檛 get as much traffic, Ward said. The nearest corner of the park within sight of the bridge is occupied by an archery range.
The Great Rivers Greenway, a nonprofit that built the Meramec Greenway and other trails connecting regional parks, supports putting the Buckner marker there. The nonprofit is also helping place the McIntosh plaque in Kiener Plaza later this year, which will be part of a planned extension of the Brickline Greenway.
The greenways are meant to provide outdoor spaces for recreation and improve habitat for wildlife and plants, but they鈥檙e also meant to 鈥渃onnect people with the stories of places along the greenway,鈥 said community program manager Elizabeth Simons.
When Great Rivers Greenway approached Valley Park in May for a permit to install the Buckner plaque, the city declined.
鈥淎ccording to historical records, this unfortunate crime took place on the south side of the Meramec River,鈥 DeNormandie said in an email.
He also referred to a ceremony the Reparative Justice Coalition had held in 2022, in Buder Park, recognizing Buckner鈥檚 killing.
鈥淵ou may or may not know, but the vigil was held on the south side of the Meramec River in an area near the train bridge in Buder Park,鈥 DeNormandie said. 鈥淭he City feels as though any marker needs to be placed on the south side of the river. We are not opposed to commemorating significant historical events, but we are concerned that any marker placed north of the river would be historically inaccurate or misleading.鈥
In July, the Great Rivers Greenway asked Valley Park to meet with members of the Reparative Justice Coalition to discuss their reasoning behind putting Buckner鈥檚 marker in Valley Park instead, and sent the city newspaper reports of the event.
鈥淪ome of the historians who organized the January 2022 John Buckner soil collection event provided additional information such as the attached news articles covering the event and related maps which point to the lynching occurring in Valley Park,鈥 Simons wrote in the email. 鈥淚f you would be willing to meet with us to discuss, we鈥檇 appreciate that.鈥
Last week, DeNormandie declined.
The city stood by its May statement, he said, and the newspaper reports indicated the lynching was 鈥減erpetrated in 狐狸视频 County,鈥 and that 鈥淐ounty鈥 authorities would not investigate Buckner鈥檚 killing. A Post-Dispatch artist鈥檚 drawing of Buckner鈥檚 killing, the city argued, showed the 鈥渟outh side of the Meramec River.鈥
He referred the group to Engelmeyer, the city鈥檚 attorney.
鈥淭he city is standing by its below statement and will not allow the marker to be installed on the trail,鈥 DeNormandie wrote in an email Aug. 28.
The Reparative Justice Coalition has said the 2022 Buckner ceremony was only held in Buder Park because 狐狸视频 County officials were supportive.
Valley Park officials never responded to requests to take part, the Reparative Justice Coalition said. The ceremony instead was attended by County Executive Sam Page, Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, a representative of the Office of Racial Harmony for the Archdiocese of 狐狸视频, and members of the Peace and Justice Ministry from Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Valley Park.
Ministry chair Jeff Schulenberg said the ceremony was an opportunity to 鈥渉elp drive an interest in current issues of oppression, current struggles of members of our society that sometimes get overlooked.鈥
鈥淎s a Catholic parish involved in efforts along the lines of peace and justice we wanted to help bring awareness to our city鈥檚 past in Valley Park,鈥 he said.
The ministry since hasn鈥檛 been involved in any discussions about the historical marker. Told of the city鈥檚 response, Schulenberg said it was 鈥渦nfortunate.鈥
鈥淚 find it a bit disingenuous to talk about the placement being in error when he was dragged off a site of Manchester Road and dragged through Valley Park to the south side of the river,鈥 he said.
Engelmeyer, in an interview, said the city reviewed newspaper reports the Reparative Justice Coalition provided in making their decision.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sure that the commission or anything that our parks director has seen indicates it happened on the north side,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think other communities would allow them to put a lynching marker in their city designating an area where an extremely ugly event occurred, when it didn鈥檛 really occur there.鈥
But Engelmeyer also said the city would consider a marker that recognized, without being specific about the location, that Buckner was lynched in the area.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e saying, well could we do some sort of designated area where this man may have been murdered, of course we would consider that,鈥 Engelmeyer told a reporter.
That was never relayed to the Reparative Justice Coalition, Ward said.
The group鈥檚 request to the city didn鈥檛 make any specific requests about what exactly the marker would say. The marker, which would be fabricated by Equal Justice Initiative, hasn鈥檛 been designed yet. But Ward said the group hoped the city would meet to discuss it.
鈥淪etting aside these somewhat arbitrary municipal boundaries,鈥 Ward said, 鈥渢his is an issue that is relevant to greater 狐狸视频, to our region, to our nation.鈥