Lafayette Square, St. Louis

Coordinates: 38°36′58″N 90°12′57″W / 38.6162°N 90.2157°W / 38.6162; -90.2157
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Lafayette Square
ZIP code(s)
Part of 63104
Area code(s)314
Websitelafayettesquare.org
Second Empire-style Victorian townhouses line the streets of Lafayette Square.

Lafayette Square is a

public park — created by local ordinance
in 1836.

The neighborhood is one of the oldest in St. Louis. When it was developed, it was one of the most fashionable places to live. It declined after a tornado devastated the area in 1896. Later, industrial encroachment and highway construction further weakened the neighborhood.

Since the 1970s, St. Louis residents have been buying and renovating the older homes in Lafayette Square. As of 2006, most of the homes have been restored and there are many shops and restaurants.

History

Since

famous 1824-25 tour of the United States
.

In

real estate developers had begun to sell lots
on the western edge of the park—along Missouri Avenue—and by 1858 lots on the east side—Mississippi Avenue—were being sold. On Park Avenue—running along the north edge of the Square—the lots were developed by the 1870s.

From the 1850s to the 1870s money from neighborhood residents and city coffers went toward improvements of the Square. These included “trees, shrubbery, graveling, fencing[,]” and outdoor concerts. One newspaper called for more funds for improvement, writing that the Square “only needs to be properly improved to be one of the most attractive places in the United States.” During the American Civil War, Lafayette Square was spared from the riots that plagued other city parks. With the end of the war, martial law also ended, and lot purchasing picked up.

The first

marble sculpture of George Washington, who had fought alongside Lafayette. In the late 1860s, architect Francis Tunica’s design won a competition to build an iron fence—completed in 1869—around the Square. The newspaper the DAILY DEMOCRAT
, June 27, 1870 wrote:

"In looking about the city and noting its improvements, we have been struck with the great progress attained in the vicinity of Lafayette Park. Within two years some of the finest residences in the city have been erected and the work is still going on. The beauty of the grounds, the elevation above the city, the character of the buildings, the beautiful shade trees, wide streets, and accessibility to the city by two lines of horse cars, the restrictions (by Statute) upon the erection of objectionable buildings or the carrying on of objectionable business, all combined should make this quarter the most desirable in the city for residence."

Terraced Houses in the Lafayette Square neighborhood in winter

The 1870s was a time of flourishing for the Square marked by the continuing development of Benton Place on the north, and regular concerts on Thursdays and Sundays routinely attracting concertgoers numbering in the thousands and sometimes more than ten thousand. At one point, the park was tended to by thirteen

gardeners
. The 1880s and early 1890s were marked by organic growth of the neighborhood and increased importance of local churches and schools.

On May 27, 1896, Lafayette Square was largely

landscape architects who were visiting the World’s Fair
.”

In 1923, the

Missouri Supreme Court declared the 1918 residential zoning ordinance unconstitutional (see City of St. Louis v. Evraiff, 256 S.W. 489 (Mo. 1923)) and businesses began to purchase lots in the area. What the tornado of 1896 had begun, and the encroachment of gas stations and grocery stores continued, the Great Depression
accelerated.

Lafayette Park

Thomas Hart Benton by American sculptor Harriet Hosmer

The 29.95-acre (121,200 m2) park was created by city ordinance 2741 in 1838. The park was named in honor of the

Marquis de Lafayette (1757–1834), a French statesman who served as a volunteer under General George Washington in the Continental Army during the American Revolution
.

The land was part of the St. Louis Common. When the Common was divided in 1836, an ordinance preserved the 29.95

cannons that were part of a British warship that bombarded Ft. Moultire in Charleston Harbor in June, 1776 during the Revolutionary War. The guns were placed in the park by the Missouri Commendry of the American Legion. In 1972, Lafayette Square was declared a historic district by Saint Louis. It has a few walking and biking trails, a duck pond with fountain, children's playground, various decorative plantings, and a gazebo that can be rented for picnics and events.[3]

Demographics

Historical population
YearPop.±%
1990 1,962—    
2000 1,761−10.2%
2010 2,078+18.0%
2020 2,164+4.1%
[4]

In 2020 Lafayette Square's racial makeup was 77.7% White, 11.4% Black, 2.4% Asian, 7.3% Two or More Races, and 1.2% Some Other Race. 3.3% of the population was of Hispanic or Latino origin.[5]

Racial composition 1990[6] 2000[7] 2010[8] 2020
White
 74.8% 68.4% 80.5% 77.7%
Black or African American
 24.2% 28.1% 13.5% 11.4%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race) 1.4% 3.0% 3.3%
Asian
 1.0% 2.6% 2.4%

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Lafayette Square.

References

  1. ^ "2020 Census Neighborhood Results".
  2. ^ Neighborhood Data Profile for Lafayette Square Archived 2007-11-04 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Lafayette Park, stlouis-mo.gov
  4. ^ "Census".
  5. ^ "City of St. Louis" (PDF). Retrieved 2021-09-16.
  6. ^ "Lafayette Square Neighborhood Statistics". City of St. Louis.
  7. ^ "The City of St. Louis Missouri". City of St. Louis.
  8. ^ "The City of St. Louis Missouri". City of St. Louis.

Sources

  • David T. Beito, "The Private Places of St. Louis," in Beito, Peter Gordon and Alex Tabarrok, The Voluntary City: Choice, Community, and Civil Society (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2002), p. 47-75.
  • John Albury Bryan, Lafayette Square: The Most Historic Old Neighborhood in St. Louis (2d ed. rev. Landmarks Assn. of St. Louis, Inc. 1969) (Lafayette Square Press 1962).
  • Timothy G. Conley, Lafayette Square: An Urban Renaissance. Photography by Barbara Elliott Martin (Lafayette Square Press 1974).
  • DAILY DEMOCRAT, June 27, 1870.
  • Where We Live: A Guide To St. Louis Communities (Tim Fox ed. Missouri Historical Society Press 1995)
  • Russell Kirk short story "Lex Talionis" which appears in Ancestral Shadows: An Anthology of Ghostly Tales
  • National Register of Historic Places - Nomination Forms

External links

38°36′58″N 90°12′57″W / 38.6162°N 90.2157°W / 38.6162; -90.2157

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