LaSALLE PARK (34)
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LOCATION
The LaSalle Park neighborhood’s boundaries are defined by Chouteau Avenue on the North, I-55 on the Southeast, and Tucker on the West.

HISTORY
LaSalle Park is conveniently located adjacent to downtown with easy access to major interstates and other major thoroughfares. A majority of its architecture includes red brick rowhouses and Federalist and Victorian houses. French residents, language, and culture prevailed throughout St. Louis well into the nineteenth century. The demographics began to shift shortly after the Civil War and the discovery of gold in California. Most of the French landowners, such as the Soulards, Chouteaus, Pauls, and Ceres, sold their property to the newly arrived individuals moving west. Immigrants of German, Lebanese, Czech, and African-American descent began to settle the area, displacing the once predominant French. Only four people out of every hundred were French after this influx of immigrants. The new rich were businessmen who made fortunes during the war and western boom. It was these individuals who purchased much of the land downtown and in the surrounding area. John Pullman, who made his fortune in iron, built his home at 912 Hickory.

Throughout the twentieth century and until the 1950s, LaSalle Park retained its charm, bustling pedestrian activity, and strength. The new highway construction isolated the neighborhood from the surrounding area, and thus rendered it less desirable as a place to live for the past two decades. LaSalle has been the focus of many redevelopment and rehabilitation efforts by its residents, community organizations, and City and Federal governments. It has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places. New development plans must now adhere to fairly strict architectural guidelines that resemble the previous surrounding architectural styles. Ralston Purina, which has been in the neighborhood since 1894, has played a significant role in the redevelopment of the area by rehabilitating historic buildings and constructing new housing for LaSalle Park’s residents. Nearly all 140 acres of LaSalle Park have been rehabilitated.

CHARACTERISTICS
LaSalle Park is located in the Near South Side of St. Louis, just north of Soulard. LaSalle Park is primarily residential in nature, offering several multifamily units and some single-family residences. A majority of the residents are homeowners, with a smaller proportion of renters. Most of the homes are brick rowhouses adjacent to brick-lined sidewalks and new period street lamps. Over the last decade and a half there has been ongoing construction of new residential units, built in an architectural style similar to the original homes. LaSalle Park is conveniently located with easy access to downtown, I-55, and I-44.

LaSalle Park is one of the City’s oldest neighborhoods. It is registered on the National Register of Historic Places and contains a variety of architectural styles, including Victorian, Federal, Italianate, and French Second Empire. A few of the neighborhood’s historic landmarks are the St. Vincent De Paul Church, which was built in 1844, and St. John Nepomuk Church, which is the oldest Czech Catholic Church in America. There have been restoration efforts within the past two decades, much of them undertaken by Ralston Purina. LaSalle Park has experienced a decline in population, economic security, and appearance, much of which began to take place in the last half of the century. This decline was sparked by the construction of I-55, which geographically separated the neighborhood from significant community assets such as public transportation and access to commercial districts. This trend has been reversed since the introduction of the Urban Renewal Plan.

Today, the neighborhood consists primarily of two- and four-family structures, most of which are renter-occupied. A majority of the single-family homes are owner-occupied. The building stock contains many structures in good condition. There are, however, several sites that contain structurally unsound or vacant buildings.

INSTITUTIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS
LaSalle Park contains two neighborhood organizations that actively work to improve the community’s solidarity and future. These include LaSalle Park Neighborhood Association and LaSalle Village Tenant Association. Although these two organizations are active, resident participation is somewhat limited. Major businesses that help anchor the neighborhood include Ralston Purina, Lohr Distributing Company and Gardner Paper. Churches include St. Vincent de Paul, LaSalle Baptist Church, St. Raymond’s Maronite Church, Religious Society of Friends (Quaker), and St. John Nepomuk. The neighborhood school is Madison A.L.C.E. Elementary School. CORO Foundation’s Midwestern Center is also located in the neighborhood. Other major community assets include the following: Council of Neighborhood Organizations, the Florist Row Business Association, Kids Internationally Distributed Superstation (K.I.D.S.), Kingdom House, LaSalle Village Tenant Association Board, the Near Southside Employment Coalition, and Tri-A Outreach Center II (located at Madison School). The area recreation center located at 12th and Park offers ball fields, a swimming pool and other afterschool activities.

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT
There are several incentives and characteristics that apply to LaSalle Park that make the redevelopment of this area important to both its residents and the surrounding community. Its close proximity to the central business district makes it a prime location for those who work downtown. LaSalle Park was designated an Urban Renewal Area in 1969, since then it has become the focus of several redevelopment plans. Ralston Purina, working with the Landmarks Association and City and Federal governments, has also invested significant time and money to renovate historic buildings, create elderly and moderate-income facilities, and create a nineteenth century atmosphere that includes historic street lighting fixtures and brick sidewalks.

Neighborhood planning programs in the last few decades have focused primarily on the renovation of existing residential structures and the building of new in-fill housing. The first phase of the neighborhood redevelopment program included the construction of LaSalle Park Village. Consisting of approximately eight acres, LaSalle Park Village provides 148 family townhouse apartments. The St. Raymond’s housing facility provides housing for the area’s elderly. Major redevelopment projects include the Ralston Purina World headquarters, Lohr Distributing Company, St. Raymond’s Church, and many smaller residential and commercial development projects. Significant community and business locations are available in several portions of the neighborhood.

The past decade has made a great impact in the LaSalle neighborhood. There are still, however, much-needed economic and community development efforts slated for LaSalle Park. There has been significant landscaping improvement to the entrances to LaSalle Park and important renovation efforts on the 10th Street Mall.