Benton Park in Literature

Where We Live: Benton Park

Following is an excerpt from a brochure about the Cherokee-Lemp neighborhood. Since production of the brochure, Cherokee-Lemp has been divided into two neighborhoods: Benton Park and Marine Villa. The brochure includes a detailed map of both neighborhoods, a number of old and new photographs, and discussions of various points of architectural and historical interest. Creation of the brochure was coordinated by the Missouri Historical Society as part of the Where We Live series. Other neighborhoods covered in the series are: Cahokia, IL, Carondelet, Florissant, St. Charles, Soulard, Hyde Park, Granite City, IL, East St. Louis, IL, Midtown, Grand-Oak Hill, Shaw, The Hill, Cheltenham, Forest Park, Skinker-DeBaliviere, Central West End, Penrose, Fairgrounds-O'Fallon Park, The Ville, University City, Webster Groves, Kirkwood, Manchester, Ferguson, Alton, IL, Elsah, IL, Kimmswick and Augusta-Weldon Spring.

Lafayette Square neighbors Bridgid Simpson, right, owner of Albert Hall Emporium, an antique shop at 1410 S. 18th St., and Lyn deMoss enjoy a time out flavored with Coeur de la Creme goat cheese from Baetje Farms, Bloomsdale, MO. The antique shop, named after the blacksmith who was the original owner of the building, is located in the business section of Lafayette Square. The specialty cheese is available at the Baetje Farms booth at the Soulard Farmers' Market. (People Productions photo by Clark Rowley)
In 1995 the brochures were turned into a book titled Where We Live, A Guide to St. Louis Communities, edited by Tim Fox with an introduction by Eric Sandweiss. Ordering information for the book can be obtained from the Missouri Historical Society. Individual copies of a specific neighborhood brochure may be obtained for free from the Missouri Historical Society by contacting Jason D. Stratman, assistant librarian, at their reference desk. In your e-mail, please include your name and mail address, complete with zip code.

Visitors to the Cherokee-Lemp neighborhood can track its development through a wealth of visual clues. A few are deceiving - such as the elegant Greek Revival mansion that is, at base, a farmhouse that belonged to a famed Oregon Trail guide. Others are instantly revealing - such as a shuttered 19th-century brewery complex or a row of modest red-brick shops.

The Cherokee-Lemp neighborhood is bounded by Interstate 55 on the south and east, Jefferson Avenue on the west and Gravois Avenue on the north. The area's street layout reflects its stages of development, for settlement took place sporadically and over a long period of time. Streets north of Arsenal, which are irregular and angled, retain the boundaries of the 18th-century French common fields. South of Arsenal, however, streets form a unified grid, since they were platted according to survey done by the city in 1836.

Early settlement of the neighborhood was scattered. Dotting the landscape were numerous sinkholes, quarries, brickyards and three cemeteries, the largest of which occupied the site of the present Benton Park. Local brewers were quick to see the value of the natural limestone caves that riddle sections of the neighborhood. In the 1850's, the ale firm of English and McHose took possession of a cave lying just east of Benton Park, using it for beer storage and operating an adjacent beer garden called Mammoth Cave and Park. German-born Adam Lemp, St. Louis' first producer of lager beer, stored his brew in caverns at the northwest corner of Cherokee and De Menil Place, keeping it at the proper temperature with ice chopped from the Mississippi River.

Jeff Lockheed's art car.
Venice Cafe host and Benton Park perennial Jeff Lockheed shows off his '49 Crosley, one among several of his art cars.

Land usage in the neighborhood proved versatile; during the Civil War an earthen fortification not far from Benton Park strategically overlooked the arsenal to the east. The breweries lured numbers of German workers as did Golden's Ropewalk, the Missouri Glass Works and such brickyards as Hermann Studenberg's near Arsenal Street. Never heavily industrialized, the area long retained rural pockets where families made their living from small dairy operations.

The Benton Park district's ample supply of available, low-cost land attracted many immigrants, who, in some subdivisions, could purchase a lot with 25-foot frontage for $200 to $300 with a small down payment and a three to six-year mortgage. The area was soon home to a host of German bricklayers, brickmakers, carpenters and masons. Their handiwork survives in abundance, most notably in the ornamental detailing that adorns many buildings. Sidney Street in particular boasts an array of architectural features - in terra cotta, pressed brick, stamped metal and cast iron.

Major changes occurred in the area after World War II with the demolition of the neighborhood's eastern edge for the Ozark Expressway and the beginning of the influx of rural migrants. In the early 1970s over 200 houses were razed and many more stood vacant. But the last years of the decade saw a spirited revitalization effort. Benton Park became the first St. Louis location for a Neighborhood Housing Service program, and by 1980, the number of vacant dwelling units had been drastically reduced. The Senate Square project reclaimed all buildings on Senate and Congress Streets owned by absentee landlords and successfully renovated them as 126 apartments.

Much has been accomplished over the past ten years in housing restoration, new construction and street, sidewalk and park improvements. In 1985 the Benton Park area became the largest National Historic Register District in Missouri, a designation that ensures the integrity of the neighborhood. Plans are underway to convert Freemont School on Wisconsin Avenue into a 75-unit home for the elderly. Today, artists, musicians, shopkeepers and residents, old and new alike, are working together to preserve the Cherokee-Lemp neighborhood's rich heritage.

You are visitor number [an error occurred while processing this directive] since [an error occurred while processing this directive].