Racial Restriction to Be Nixed From Kirkwood Neighborhood

Kirkwood's Greenbriar/Osage Hills Neighborhood Association has tried for decades to strike a racist indenture from the community's bylaws. This week, the subdivision's board of trustees looks to put the issue to rest. 

Trustees will file an amendment at the St. Louis County Recorder of Deeds Office to strike out an indenture that forbids African-Americans from owning a home in the Kirkwood subdivision that is home to more than 300 residents.

The indenture states African-Americans cannot occupy a building unless they are servants or employees. The discriminatory language came under the scrutiny of the Kirkwood Human Rights Commission. (SEE: Neighborhood's Racial Covenant Raises Concerns in Kirkwood)

Even though the language is illegal and unenforceable under federal law, it has remained in the neighborhood's bylaws to the dismay of residents. The indenture was created by the subdivision's developer in 1926, according to Don Walla, one of the subdivision's trustees.

"It's definitely repugnant, and it's obviously illegal," Walla said. "We've tried to change this a number of times."

In the past, striking the language would mean a complete overhaul of the Greenbriar/Osage Hills bylaws, but the City of Kirkwood Attorney's Office came to the aid of the neighborhood.

The city presented a statute to homeowners during the past year that allows them to update and amend indentures without revamping all of the neighborhood's bylaws. 

"Now we know we can address this one issue," Walla said.

Past Coverage:

• Neighborhood's Racial Covenant Raises Concerns in Kirkwood