Late church member Thyra Bonds’ home at 15 Marvin Court is being reviewed by Webster Groves’ Historic Preservation Commission, for registration as a Local Historic Structure, at the Commission’s next meeting, September 12. The house, constructed in 1956 by real estate developer Bennie Gordon, Jr., was set up as the demonstration home in a 13-property neighborhood marketed specifically to African Americans. The subdivision was prevented from further development by protests and threats of white neighbors against businesses supporting and funding the effort. In 1964, with the Marvin Court development stalled and surrounding properties left similarly undeveloped, the WG Land Clearance for Reclamation Authority persuaded the City Council to rezone all the property except for Mrs. Bonds’s home from Residential to Industrial, and the Kirkham Industrial Court was born. Mrs. Bonds then sued the City to recover what she alleged was a decreased value in her home.

Pastor Dave Denoon preached a sermon on January 29, 2023 (video), also available in print, which brought light to the court case and its eventual outcome in 1968 in favor of the City. Mrs. Bonds’s daughter Gayle Jones still lives at 15 Marvin Court, today. It is in part through the efforts of Ms. Jones and Pastor Dave that the Commission is considering the home’s historic status.