FOUNTAIN PARK (53)
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LOCATION
The Fountain Park neighborhood is defined by Dr. Martin Luther King Drive to the North and Delmar Boulevard to the South. Walton Avenue lies to the East and North Kingshighway Boulevard to its West.

HISTORY
The neighborhood is proud of its namesake, the Fountain Park, which is on the National Register of Historic Places. The park is named for the historic, multitiered fountain nested within it. In addition to the fountain, the park is known for its eleven-foot bronze statue of civil rights leader, Dr, Martin Luther King, Jr. According to neighborhood residents, the fountain is still in working order and the statue is the only Martin Luther King, Jr., statue to be found in St. Louis. The statue was placed on the National Register in October 1982.

CHARACTERISTICS
Centered around Fountain Park itself, the neighborhood is largely residential. South of the park, streets such as Aubert, Euclid, and Bayard are lined with a mixture of single and two- and four-family residences. The eastern edge of the park sets opposite what was once a center of commercial activity; today it is only a remnant of the past.

The majority of the neighborhood’s commercial areas are along its perimeter streets: Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, North Kingshighway, and Delmar Boulevard. The old Sears building on North Kingshighway was brought back to life by area businessmen. Today it houses Channel 46, Home Shopping Club, and other various retail and service business on its ground floor. Along Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, some local businesses are doing well; other buildings are abandoned.

Just east of Kingshighway, at the intersection of Aubert and Page, sets a huge parcel of vacant land that is an enlarged version of the great number of land parcels that stand vacant in the Academy. With only approximately 450 residential structures in the neighborhood, it is hard not to notice the additional approximately 110 vacant pieces of land. As the only main artery located inside the neighborhood, Page Avenue also has some small retail activity. Additionally, the New Bethlehem M.B. Church is located at the intersection of Page and North Euclid.

Besides disinvestment of housing and business, the Fountain Park neighborhood also suffers from incidents of drug-related activity. Area residents are fighting back, though, through community engagement in antidrug marches. Together with their neighbors in the Lewis Place neighborhood, they peacefully protest against drugs.

INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS
The western edge of the park faces one of the neighborhood’s anchors, the Centennial Christian Church. The area north of the park is known for the Euclid-Montessori magnet schools located opposite each other on North Euclid Avenue. The Martin Luther King Business Association and the Kingshighway Merchants Association are interested in combating further deterioration and remedying current problems in the commercial arena. Active residents participate in the Fountain Park-Lewis Place Neighborhood Association or the Fountain Park Block Unit. They participate in the Operation Brightside cleanup and the National Night Out.

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Two entities have been very instrumental in the organization of the commercial community in the neighborhood and the revitalization of Fountain Park’s business districts: the Roberts Brothers Development Corporation and the Kingsway Merchants Association. The Kingsway Merchants Association is composed of many area businesses located primarily along Kingshighway, Delmar, and Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. The Roberts Brothers Development Corporation has been the initiator in much of the commercial real estate development in the area, including Kingsway Centre (the old Sears building), and the shopping strip at Delmar and Kingshighway. Kingsway Centre includes many of the essential neighborhood services such as an ophthalmologist practice, GED classes and job training, a Food Outreach pantry, and a day-care center. The Delmar/Kingshighway shopping center is a very healthy center of commerce where the majority of tenants continue to renew their leases. Currently, the Roberts Brothers are finishing a project at the corner of Kingshighway and Enright, which is now home to a newly opened Blockbuster Video and a restaurant. Additionally, they are working on securing more property in the area adjacent to the vacant lot at Aubert and Page in order to begin a 40,000-square-foot development. Two future tenants have already been secured for 75 percent of the available space.