Public Markets in Old St. Louis

A busy morning at Soulard Market, circa 1890. The view is looking northwest from the corner of 8th and Julia Streets (the street names are visible on the gas lamp globe). The streetcar tracks run along 8th Street. Swekosky Photo Collection, School Sisters of Notre Dame.

Soulard Market is today a lone survivor, but was once only one among many markets in the city. Space for the city's first market was set aside by Pierre LaClede in his 1764 plan for the new village. He followed the ancient tradition by reserving a whole square block just above the river in the middle of the town. That block was at first an open field, and later boasted a succession of market structures. This first market site survived in various capacities for almost a century; downtown's Market Street is a reminder of its existence.

As the original village center became a business zone and residential areas spread outward, the citizens called for new market sites. The city built two: North Market in 1832 at Broadway and Lucas, a.k.a. "Mound Market"; and South Market in 1839, at Broadway just south of Chouteau, a.k.a. "French Market".

Others were built by private groups. Included were Lucas Market (1845) at Twelfth and St. Charles Sts., Biddle Market (1857) at Broadway and Biddle Sts., and Union Market (1868) at Broadway and Sixth Sts. There were a number of others, but I think you get the idea.

All these markets apparently thrived for varying lengths of time, then succumbed as better-located facilities took advantage of shifting residential patterns. Only a few of these surviving even lasted to the 20th century, and the last, Union Market, closed in the 1980's.