About Carr Square Housing

Carr Square Village — commonly known as Carr Square Housing — is one of the earliest public housing developments in the United States. Built in the late 1930s and opened in 1942 under the St. Louis Housing Authority, the complex originally comprised dozens of multi-story brick residential buildings on St. Louis’s near north side, housing hundreds of working-class and low-income families.

From 1942 through demolition and redevelopment in the 2000s, Carr Square required continuous building maintenance, mechanical upkeep, and periodic renovation. That unbroken cycle of construction and repair exposed multiple generations of tradespeople and contractors to hazardous materials that were standard in mid-twentieth-century building construction — materials we now know cause terminal disease.

Carr Square sits within the broader Mississippi River industrial corridor shared by Missouri and Illinois — a region that includes the Labadie Energy Center in Franklin County, the Portage des Sioux Power Plant in St. Charles County, the Monsanto chemical complex in Sauget, and Granite City Steel across the river in Madison County, Illinois.

From the 1930s through the late 1970s, asbestos-containing materials were specified throughout U.S. public housing construction for fire resistance, thermal insulation on heating systems and steam pipes, cost efficiency, and code compliance. By the time federal regulators began restricting asbestos, Carr Square reportedly already contained asbestos-containing materials throughout its infrastructure.

General Equipment at Carr Square Housing

The equipment below represents the systems and infrastructure documented or typically present at this facility during the era when asbestos-containing materials were specified in industrial construction. This is general facility-equipment reference — not a legal attribution of any specific product, manufacturer, or exposure event to this facility. Material-category and manufacturer information is addressed in the AsbestosIndex Product Crosswalk linked under the records table below.

Industrial Boilers View crosswalk › Process Piping View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Block Insulation View crosswalk › Valves View crosswalk › Gaskets View crosswalk › Pumps View crosswalk › Heat Exchangers View crosswalk › Cooling Equipment View crosswalk ›

Documented Asbestos Evidence — Missouri

The records below are verified, state-documented asbestos removals at this facility. Each entry represents a regulated abatement project where the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (Missouri DNR) was notified under federal NESHAP rules, the work was logged, and the asbestos-containing material was confirmed and removed under regulated conditions. These are not allegations or estimates — they are paper records tying documented asbestos-containing material to this specific site.

No Missouri DNR NESHAP abatement notifications have been identified for this facility in current public records. Per the framing above, absence of state-agency documentation should not be read as absence of asbestos — only as absence of a formal, regulated abatement event meeting reporting thresholds. Workers who recall encountering pipe insulation, block insulation, gaskets, or other asbestos-era construction materials at this facility may still have viable claims regardless of whether a state record exists.

Material Categories in Documented Records

The materials documented above (and similar asbestos-containing materials commonly encountered in records of this type) appear in the AsbestosIndex catalog with historical manufacturer and trust-fund information. Click a category to view manufacturers historically associated with that material:

Thermal System Insulation View crosswalk › Asbestos-Cement Board View crosswalk › Pipe Insulation View crosswalk › Roofing & Flashing View crosswalk › Spray Fireproofing View crosswalk › Floor Tile & Mastic View crosswalk › Ceiling Tile View crosswalk › Gaskets & Packing View crosswalk ›

Who May Have Been Exposed at Carr Square Housing

Heat and Frost Insulators members of Local 1 installed and repaired pipe covering, block insulation, and insulating cement throughout Carr Square’s mechanical systems, cutting and fitting asbestos-containing insulation materials, handling friable pipe covering and joint sealants, and working in confined mechanical spaces with poor ventilation.

Pipefitters and steamfitters — including members of UA Local 562 — who worked on Carr Square’s steam and hot-water systems were exposed to asbestos-containing pipe covering, gasket and packing materials, insulating cement, and joint compound. Boilermakers — including members of Boilermakers Local 27 — who serviced, repaired, or replaced central heating plant equipment worked with asbestos-containing refractory materials lining boiler interiors, block insulation, rope packing, and gaskets in close quarters. Electricians worked in boiler rooms and mechanical spaces shared with insulation trades and faced bystander exposure. Maintenance workers and custodial staff employed by the St. Louis Housing Authority handled deteriorating building materials, replaced worn floor tiles and ceiling materials, and repaired plumbing fixtures without respiratory protection. Painters and drywall workers encountered asbestos-containing materials during sanding, scraping, and application operations. General laborers performed demolition and debris removal work exposed to friable asbestos-containing materials and deteriorated materials releasing fibers.

Missouri — Filing Deadline & Next Steps

Missouri law gives mesothelioma and asbestos-disease claimants 5 years from the date of medical diagnosis to file a personal-injury lawsuit (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 516.120). For wrongful-death claims after an asbestos-related death, the filing window is 3 years from the date of death (Mo. Rev. Stat. § 537.100). The two deadlines run on separate tracks — preserving one does not extend the other.

The personal-injury clock runs from diagnosis, not from exposure. Mesothelioma latency is typically 20 to 50 years, so workers exposed in the 1950s–1980s are being diagnosed today.

Practical first steps

  1. Document what you remember. Pay stubs, W-2s, union cards, photographs, coworker names, and dates of employment. The WorkChain widget on this page can save a copy you can email yourself.
  2. Preserve medical records. Pathology reports, biopsy results, imaging, and pulmonary-function tests are central to both civil claims and trust-fund filings.
  3. Identify household members. Spouses who laundered work clothing and children of plant workers are eligible for secondary-exposure claims when diagnosed with an asbestos-related disease.
  4. Speak with an asbestos attorney with Missouri experience. The first conversation is free and confidential. Asbestos trust-fund claims and civil claims run on different tracks — both can be pursued in parallel.

Asbestos-Related Diseases — Missouri

Asbestos fiber exposure can cause several specific diseases that typically appear decades after the original exposure. The latency period — the gap between exposure and diagnosis — usually runs 20 to 50 years. That's why workers exposed in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s are receiving diagnoses today.

Mesothelioma

A rare, aggressive cancer that affects the lining of the lungs (pleural mesothelioma), abdomen (peritoneal), or heart (pericardial). Mesothelioma is almost exclusively caused by asbestos exposure, which is why a mesothelioma diagnosis often points directly to historical workplace exposure. Average latency from first exposure to diagnosis is 30-50 years.

Asbestosis

A chronic, non-cancerous scarring of lung tissue caused by inhaled asbestos fibers. Asbestosis causes progressive shortness of breath, persistent cough, and reduced lung function. It does not improve with treatment, and it is a recognized basis for a claim under most trust schedules and civil claims.

Lung Cancer

Asbestos exposure significantly increases the risk of lung cancer, particularly when combined with a history of smoking. Asbestos-related lung cancer is compensable under the same trust schedules and civil claim avenues as mesothelioma.

Other Recognized Diseases

Pleural plaques, pleural thickening, laryngeal cancer, ovarian cancer, and certain gastrointestinal cancers are also recognized as asbestos-related under various trust schedules and case-law authorities, though eligibility and proof requirements vary by claim type.

If you have any of these diagnoses and you worked at this facility, lived with someone who did, or were exposed in any documented capacity, you may have a claim worth pursuing. Speak with an attorney before assuming you don't qualify.

Cross-State & Regional Corridor Workers

Carr Square sits within the broader Mississippi River industrial corridor shared by Missouri and Illinois — a region that includes the Labadie Energy Center in Franklin County, the Portage des Sioux Power Plant in St. Charles County, the Monsanto chemical complex in Sauget, and Granite City Steel across the river in Madison County, Illinois. Workers, union members, and contractors routinely moved among these facilities and Carr Square throughout their careers. Local 1 members also worked at comparable regional facilities — including the Labadie Energy Center, Portage des Sioux, and industrial sites across Madison County and St. Clair County, Illinois — meaning their cumulative career exposures may span multiple facilities. UA Local 562 members regularly rotated between public-sector facilities like Carr Square and industrial job sites throughout the St. Louis metropolitan area. Local 27 members also performed boiler and pressure vessel work at major regional employers throughout the St. Louis area.

Data Sources — Missouri

Information about facility equipment, industrial materials, and occupational records referenced on this page is drawn from publicly available sources where applicable, including:

If specific equipment or product claims in this article are sourced from a non-public database, the source is identified parenthetically within the text above.