This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here.
The Hillcrest neighborhood in Corpus Christi, Texas, started out as an upscale all-white community in the heart of the city. But after oil was discovered nearby in 1930, a growing refinery sector on Hillcrest’s edge drove many residents to seek homes elsewhere. So in 1944, Corpus Christi recommended Hillcrest be opened to Black people.
In the following decades, refinery flares and smoke stacks cropped up around the neighborhood. An interstate highway cut it off from the rest of the city, and it became host to Corpus Christi’s sewage treatment plant.
