The River Town is undoubdtedly a Floodplain
Like most river towns, the Mississippi river is essential to the lifeblood of the Hannibal. Here, steamboat traffic and trade promoted city growth to become one of the largest populations in the entire state before the Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad was established. While the river has been essential to putting Hannibal on the map, it too has been the source of sever damage and defeat. Hannibal is precariously protected by a floodwall, but has seen the consequences of water pouring over top. Like many river towns, Hannibal is at the mercy of a brute force solution. A wall that furiously imposes itself on the landscape funneling water through its course, without allowing any of it to escape. This is a engineered approach to water management that doesn’t occur naturally. Hence, when it fails, it is dire. Houses are ruined, neighborhoods are abandoned, and lives are potentially lost.
American
Like many other cities within the Union, Hannibal was built on a history of slave labuor. African American labour was fundamental to the daily lives of white Hannibalians to maintain their properties, farm their land, and keep their houses. Those few African Americans who were free developed churches, businesses and fraternities that have had a lasting impact on the city. Eventually, after emancipation from slavery, African American communities grew into self sufficient cultural entities, including the historic wedge district. Nowadays, the segregation has begun to disintegrate, and communities like The Wedge no longer exist as it once did. African American history in Hannibal has been forgotten. No, not forgotten, ignored. The stories need to be told and remembered, design and community shaping has the power to bring people with stories together. To tell and retell stories helps to affirm culture with place, and place to a culture. We need to make places that subliminally tell ignored stories in part to revive distinct sense of community, but also to validate and respect these pasts. This is how the designer makes reparations.
Responsible Revival from Dilapidation
The vacancy, as exhaustively displayed on Broadway, is the physical manifestation of a changed city. The downtown core, is no longer the essence to town living. Instead, services and amenities have been pushed to the boundaries of town. Vacancy is not necessarily an indication of defeat, but it does announce altered values. Vacancy indicates that there is opportunity for a re-emphasis of the towns identity. This identity is not defined by the outsider, myself, but instead the designer must surround themselves by the essence of a place, and re-articulate it so that it can be understood and lived within by community members.
The Local vs The Tourist
The city of Hannibal is dependent on tourism for economic sustenance. The tourism industry is reliant on the name of Mark Twain to attract people from all over the country to visit Twain’s hometown. That said, the legacy of Twain is controversial. Locals are frustrated with the mainly Twain oriented cultural services and as such have turned their back on downtown Hannibal. Many Hannibalian’s prefer to live West of downtown in the suburbs and rarely come downtown except for annual festivals. Twain’s legacy has lead to a cultural drain for the locals, shielding the many cultural amenities the city has fostered for almost 200 years. Cities and towns need to find ways to reintroduce businesses and services not oriented towards their main attraction in order to foster local loyalty to one's hometown.