The Charles Gallagher house on Market Street in Midtown was one of the first structures built in the area. It was built in 1856 as a homestead for Gallagher, who was a clerk for the Missouri Republican newspaper, and decided to have this small house built two blocks west of Jefferson. The 1950s photo of the house shows that it was set much further back from the street than the surrounding 1880s houses, which were built directly up to the sidewalk. After Charles died in 1897, the house remained in his family until 1944, during which time the neighborhood became home to a number of immigrant families, and later became one of the main African American neighborhoods in the city. By the 1950s, this area was labeled as a slum by urban planners, and it was marked for demolition by the mid 1950s. The main reason stated for demolition was the lack of indoor plumbing in many of the houses. By 1960, the neighborhood, known as the Mill Creek Valley, was completely razed for urban renewal projects, and a total of over 5000 people were displaced by the project. Today, the Wells Fargo campus occupies the site where this building stood.
