The neighborhood around 22nd Street South and 9th Avenue South became the most important area in St. Petersburg's most vibrant African-American neighborhood during segregation, when African Americans were forced by law to live there and were generally unwelcome downtown or in white residential areas. Though once considered out in the country relative to downtown, the community began developing among palmettos and pine woods during the 1920s as new industries offered jobs and white city leaders encouraged African Americans to move away from older black neighborhoods. The core of 22nd Street South, between 5th and 15th Avenues South, grew into a commercial and entertainment district with stores, restaurants, professional services, nightclubs, and beer gardens, anchored by the Manhattan Casino, which held dances with house bands and hosted leading musicians and gospel singers. A few Jewish merchants, also barred from opening downtown, got their start there. In contrast, the 9th Avenue South corridor between 16th and 24th Streets South became lined with churches, schools, and civil organizations, including Jordan Elementary on the west end and Sixteenth Street Junior High and Immaculate Conception Catholic School on the east. For decades, many churches along or near the avenue served people of many denominations. Gradual integration and the coming of the interstate damaged the corridor's commercial, professional, and entertainment bases and also its cultural identity, and serious decline was evident by the 1970s, despite the community's resilience, ingenuity, talent, and perseverance under a restrictive social system.