Lafayette Square is another notable section within the independent city of St. Louis today. As a neighborhood, bounded on the north by Chouteau Avenue, on the south by Interstate 44, on the east by Truman Parkway. On the west by South Jefferson Avenue, Lafayette Square takes up a sizable portion of St. Louis, offering various attractions and venues to residents. The Square itself surrounds Lafayette Park, the city’s oldest public park, established by a local ordinance back in 1838.
As one of the oldest neighborhoods in St. Louis, Lafayette Square comes with some interesting history. It was one of the most fashionable places to live back during its inception but experienced a serious setback in 1896 when a tornado struck it. Later, when the Industrial Revolution changed the face of St. Louis set in, the construction further weakened the once-bohemian neighborhood.
During the 1970s, a resurgence in interest in the area set in, and since then, St. Louis residents have been buying and renovating the older homes in the region. As of 2006, most homes have been restored, and many shops and restaurants are popping up every month.
History of Lafayette Square in St. Louis, Missouri
Starting as a French settlement back in 1764, the land that is now Lafayette Square was a common pasture for village livestock. It had never been privately owned and was previously inhabited by native tribes.
By 1835, now under American rule following the Louisiana Purchase, the Mayor at the time, Mayor Darby, gained permission from the state legislature to sell the commons to drive the criminals out. Since the city had begun to sell the common pasture section of St. Louis, the Board of Alderman set aside close to 30 acres for community recreation. The square park was then walled in on each side, with the southern street named Lafayette in honor of the Revolutionary War General Marquis de LaFayette. He had visited St. Louis a few years prior during his 1824 tour of the U.S.
Come 1837, a real estate collapse forced many who hadSt bought land near the Square to stop payments, causing the land to revert to the City. By the 1850s, several prominent locals bought most of the land bordering the park’s southern end. These families built expensive homes on Lafayette Avenue and passed an ordinance forbidding any nuisance within distance from the park. On November 12, 1851, the park was officially dedicated as “Lafayette Square,” and real estate developers moved on in to develop out the uninhabited area.
By 1870, the Square was flourishing, with organic growth of the neighborhood and the development of churches and schools for locals. But in 1896, the entire Square was flattened by a tornado, killing many and causing millions in damage. It took close to 70-years to bring the Square back to life after that.
Lafayette Park
Created by an ordinance simultaneously as the Square, the Lafayette Park can be found bordering the region, named again after Marquis de Lafayette, the French statesman who served as a volunteer under George Washington during the Revolutionary War.
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