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Location: Park, Mississippi, Missouri and Lafayette avenues
Ordinance Date: 1838
Size: 29.95 Acres
City Commons - Ordinance 2741
Plant A Memorial Tree In Lafayette Park
Gazebo rental information: Call: 289-5300
Ballfield reservations: Call: 289-5389
Lafayette Square is one the city’s most beautifully restored historic neighborhoods.
And Lafayette Park is the heart of Lafayette Square.
While it serves as a gathering spot for neighborhood meetings, summer concerts and weddings, it also is a wonderful place to take a stroll, have a picnic, take children to the playground or watch a softball game.
Everyday walkers and runners, bikers and bladers and dogs and their owners visit the park that anchors the surrounding neighborhood. And the many benches provide a quiet place to get away from the city.
The gazebo can be rented for $300 for four hours for weddings, reunions, picnics and parties.
Walking on the edges of the park, the view is of large Victorian homes, painted every shade
of the rainbow. The area gained national recognition in 1998 as winner of the Prettiest Painted Places in America.
Homes in the area were designed by some of St. Louis' best-known architects such as George Ingham Barnett, Theodore Link and Otto Wilhelm. The earliest homes date back to the 1850s, and reflect the Federal style. These homes are grand but of a more simple style than the later Victorian counterparts and often have the entranceway placed on the side of the building. The period of greatest construction activity for the Second Empire style Victorian town houses were the two decades beginning in 1865. These homes tend to be two stories topped by a third floor masard roof with dormer windows. Homes built after 1890 have Germanic influences and are built entirely of red brick and are characterized by wide arches, turrets, classical columned porches and iron balconies.
History of Lafayette Park
Lafayette Park is one of the first public parks created in the City of St. Louis.
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 acres for public use as a park. It was separated from the Commons in 1844 but it wasn’t until 1851 that it was formally dedicated as Lafayette Square, the name that became associated with the neighborhood that grew up around the park.
The land was acquired as a result of the foresight of Mayor John F. Darby and Colonel Thornton Grimsley who realized the need for a place of recreation in the area. Its first use was for the drilling of Grimsley's "Home Guard" and the site came to be popularly called the "Parade Ground." No money was appropriated for the improvements, since the ordinance was not to take effect until private citizens had contributed $5,000 to enclose and plant the square. More than $8,000 was soon collected and early in 1852 the board's first task was to construct "a rough paling fence" to enclose the park and keep out stray cattle, hogs and runaway horses, so that trees and shrubs could be planted.
The park was renamed “Lafayette Park” in 1854.
In 1857, the park was leased to a Superintendent Edward C. Krausnick, who built a cottage and was responsible for maintenance and surveillance. Most of the early improvements in the park were made through the efforts of nearby property owners; however, the city appropriated $2,000 in 1857, followed by a like amount the next year. Public use of the park was expanded in 1859, beginning in January with a concert in the park's new Winter Garden by the orchestra of Wood's Theater.
Many large, beautiful homes were built around the park and it began to rival Lucas Place as a civic showplace. The Civil War caused a partial cessation in the park's improvement although more than $14,000 was spent for that purpose in 1863. Among the most important innovations of the year 1864 was the decision to employ a professional superintendent, Maximilian G. Kern, who was a landscaper. He redesigned the park according to new ideas about park landscaping and park came to include a large lake, a rocky grotto, an iron fence surrounding the park with decorative entrance gates, a bandstand and pavilions, lush foliage and scores of trees.
During 1867, summer concerts began. A bandstand was built and a series of weekly programs was presented during June. On May 27, 1868, 40,000 persons witnessed the unveiling of Harriet Hosmer's statue of Thomas H. Benton in the park. In 1869, a bronze copy of Houdon's statue of George Washington was dedicated and the decorative fence around the park was installed from plans by Francis Tunica, winner of a competition for its design. Much of the work was done through bond issues during the latter part of the 1860s. A police station was built in the southeast corner of the park about 1870.
The cannons, which are a unique feature of the park, are probably the most interesting relics found in any city west of the Mississippi. The guns 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.
The park was destroyed by a tornado that swept over that portion of the city on May 27, 1896. Every tree, the band pavilion, gazebos and formal gardens were destroyed. Boats were blown out of the water, some landing 200 feet from the lake. But restoration started almost immediately.
While the park was considerably restored by 1904, it did not retain its former glory. As the city grew outward, some neighborhood residents moved elsewhere and newer, larger parks attracted public attention.
The city’s first zoning ordinance in 1918 classified the property on the park’s perimeter as residential. When the zoning law as declared unconstitutional by the State Supreme Court in 1923, commercial interests began to impinge on the park’s surroundings. This speeded the exodus of most of the remaining families from the Victorian town houses. Beginning during the Depression, many of these large old homes were converted into rooming houses.
It reached a low point during World War II, when vigorous efforts were required to keep its ornamental fence out of the scrap metal drive. Another sad event was the demolition of its post-tornado bandstand in 1951. The last blow to the neighborhood was the destruction of homes along the south with the construction of Interstate 44 years later.
Then Lafayette Square and its park reversed the tide. Since the mid-1960s, the park has become the focal point for an extensive program which has resulted in the restoration and preservation of many of the fine old homes abutting the park and in its vicinity.
Many young couples moved into the neighborhood, buying old houses and renovating them. Local and national publicity, strong neighborhood organizations and city cooperation in planning aided this movement.
In 1972, Lafayette Square was declared a historic district by the city. These restoration efforts have continued dramatically transforming the neighborhood back into one of the most stunning in the city. These efforts have not been limited to residences in the area, but have also included improvements made to Lafayette Park.
Funds were raised to restore the entire length of wrought iron fence surrounding the park. A children’s playground was installed, air conditioning was added to the Park House and Boat House and the lake was drained, dregged and a new retaining wall the built.
 Official Web Site of the City of St. Louis
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