Look closely at almost any American city, and you’ll notice something: a set of railroad tracks, a highway, or a river dividing one neighborhood from another. On one side, tree-lined streets and investment. On the other, underfunded schools, fewer businesses, and neglected infrastructure.
Those dividing lines weren’t accidents. They were choices — choices that reinforced segregation and shaped opportunity.
What Does “Divided by the Tracks” Mean?
Throughout the 20th century, planners and city governments often used railroads, highways, and industrial zones as physical barriers between white neighborhoods and Black, immigrant, or working-class neighborhoods.
- Railroads: Tracks were natural “dividing lines,” and cities frequently used them to separate communities racially and economically.
- Highways: In the 1950s–70s, interstate construction often ran straight through thriving Black neighborhoods.
- Zoning: Industrial districts, factories, and warehouses were placed next to neighborhoods deemed “less desirable,” while wealthier areas were buffered by parks and green space.
These barriers created not only physical divides but also economic and social ones that persist today.
How It Worked in Practice
- Segregation by Design: In many cities, railroads became the literal “color line,” with restrictive covenants and redlining reinforcing the divide.
- Displacement: Highway construction displaced hundreds of thousands of families, disproportionately Black and immigrant communities.
- Economic Impact: Once cut off, neighborhoods lost access to retail, jobs, and tax bases, accelerating cycles of disinvestment.
Example: St. Paul’s Rondo neighborhood, a thriving Black community, was bulldozed in the 1960s to build I-94. Similar stories unfolded in Detroit, Miami, Nashville, and beyond.
Why It Still Matters
- Wealth & Housing: Property values declined on the “wrong” side of the tracks or highways, limiting wealth-building opportunities.
- Schools & Resources: Divided communities meant divided school districts and unequal funding.
- Health & Environment: Proximity to highways and industrial zones increased pollution, noise, and health risks, while parks and green spaces were concentrated elsewhere.
- Community Fracture: Generations lost access to businesses, churches, and social networks that anchored community life.
Wider Impacts
- Immigrant Communities: Mexican American barrios in the Southwest, Chinatown districts, and other immigrant enclaves were often boxed in by tracks or redevelopment projects.
- White Families: Working-class white families sometimes found themselves on the “wrong side” too, showing that segregation by design had layered impacts of race and class.
Stories of Resilience
Despite barriers, communities adapted and thrived:
- In Nashville, displaced Black families rebuilt cultural hubs around Jefferson Street.
- In Miami’s Overtown, despite being fractured by I-95, residents nurtured music and cultural traditions.
- Across the country, churches, civic groups, and grassroots organizers resisted erasure and created new networks of resilience.
Beyond Blame: Building With Each Other
We may not have laid the tracks or poured the concrete, but we live in the world shaped by those decisions. Understanding these divides helps us see:
- Why wealth, health, and education are distributed unevenly across neighborhoods.
- Why communities divided decades ago are still fighting for investment and equity today.
Facing this history isn’t about blame — it’s about realizing the invisible lines we’ve inherited and choosing to build bridges across them.
Dig Deeper
- See Which Highways Displaced Communities: Highway Removal Projects – Congress for the New Urbanism
- Case Study: Rondo Neighborhood in St. Paul, Minnesota (resources from Rondo Ave Inc.)
- Related ECC Articles (future links):
- Restrictive Covenants: Rules Written Into the Deed
- Redlining: How Maps Drew Boundaries That Still Shape Our Communities
- Urban Renewal: When “Renewal” Meant Removal
Closing Invitation
Railroads and highways were meant to connect cities, but too often they were used to divide them. Yet even in the face of those barriers, communities found ways to thrive, resist, and create culture that still shapes America today.
Every Chapter Counts is about uncovering those chapters — not to dwell on what was lost, but to see what was built and to imagine how we can build better together.
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