ST. LOUIS – The St. Louis story of the Negro Leagues and its athletes will soon be told as a new museum is making progress in it's development to be placed in north St. Louis.

The Negro Leagues were initially established in 1920 through a meeting at a YMCA in Kansas City and served as the league for Black athletes to play in during segregation in the 20th century. The leagues featured many iconic Black athletes and brought economic development to many Black communities during the time.

The satellite Negro Leagues Baseball Museum is currently in development and is part of the St. Louis' Chapter 99 Redevelopment Plan, which would bring over 30 housing and retail buildings, along with the museum, to help revitalize north St. Louis' JeffVanderLou neighborhood.

"The developer is working so diligently on this kind of resurrection and rehab of that area there in north St. Louis, very similar to what we did here in Kansas City at historic 18th and Vine." President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, Bob Kendrick, said.

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The Historic 18th and Vine is a historically Black neighborhood in Kansas City that added the National Negro League Baseball Museum after it was revitalized, similar to the plan in motion for the JeffVanderLou neighborhood. Kendrick said the developers will provide the funds for the project, and museum officials will come in and serve as consultants.

"We're really excited about the prospect of what this could mean for that neighborhood there in north St. Louis, but also what it means as an extension of this museum," Kendrick said. "This is just one step in the midst of a stepping stone for the museum to try to create this affiliation program that we had envisioned for quite some time."

St. Louis has a rich record of both Black and baseball history that dates back to the early 20th century. The St. Louis Negro League team was initially named the Giants before rebranding to the more well-known Stars in 1921. The team played at Stars Park in St. Louis' Midtown neighborhood, which is now home to Harris Stowe University.

The planned Negro League Baseball Museum will tell a different story from the museum in Kansas City. The museum will highlight not only the history of the Negro Leagues but its history in St. Louis, showcasing players like Cool Papa Bell, Mule Suttles, and Willie Wells that helped move barriers in the city.

"This is about personalities. This is about who they were as human beings that will ultimately help people understand the contributions that they not only made to our game, but the contributions that they made to this country," Kendrick said. "That, to me, is what the opportunity is being presented by this partnership to create a satellite exhibition that will celebrate St. Louis's black baseball history."

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The St. Louis-stationed museum recently had its tax breaks approved, but there are still obstacles in the way for when the museum would be able to begin construction. Similar to the expansion of the museum in Kansas City, Kendrick said that there are different elements that still need to move forward on the project.

"I don't quite know what the timetable is, and I'm sure it's going to be similar to what we're going through as we're raising this money to build this new Negro Leagues Museum," Kendrick said. "It will all be contingent upon how quickly the funds can be raised, and then you can create a timetable for what construction might look like."

Although the museum still has some hurdles to get over before being constructed, the museum and the full JeffVanderLou project continue to make progress in their development.