Soulard Farmers' Market: Comments from Insiders and Guide for Beginners
Good Neighbors Create Better Neighborhoods
Soulard in Literature: Stephen E. Ambrose, Tim Fox and Eric Sandweiss, Betty Pavlige, Arthur Proetz and Adolf Schultz
Steps to Neighborhood Revival:
The Solution
No matter how many assets it has, a community lives or dies, blossoms or withers on the quality and shared vision of its people and its leadership.
 Skip Gatermann, a teacher, finds relaxation riding his Harley. Displayed is a window sign used to identify "host" houses. Skip and wife Darlene, among others, distributed housing information during the crucial early years of Soulard's revival. (People Productions photo by Clark Rowley) |
This analysis pointed to a solution: eliminate the imbalance by attracting purchasers. Spotlight the assets, package and market them to fabricate a valuable product: a viable community set against a historic backdrop. The objective of the marketing program was to repopulate the neighborhood with people who cared. Achieve this by making a market in Soulard property, just like a stock broker makes a market in a stock. No market, no value. No value, no existence.
The marketing program had three facets:
(1) An ongoing public relations thrust involved the production and distribution of dozens and dozens of press releases. The basic theme of the releases was: "Soulard is making a comeback. Come visit us." Also, house tours, walking tours, radio and television appearances, housing booths at city events and other avenues were developed. As many people resources as possible were included in the public relations program.
(2) Housing lists were produced with addresses, a brief description of the property, price and who to contact for as many available neighborhood properties as could be found. The availability of housing lists was featured in the public relations campaign. The function of the housing list was to help lure people to Soulard and a meeting with a neighborhood host.
(3) Neighborhood hosts, identified by signs in the windows of their homes, promoted the neighborhood to interested home purchasers and distributed the housing lists. Program designers realized that to get people to do something, face-to-face contact was the most effective avenue. This is an elementary marketing lesson. The function of the window signs, which stated simply "Housing Information Here," was to get people to stop, get out of their cars and knock on the door of a host. Once they did this, they were starting to experience the neighborhood. Then the front steps of the host home served as the stage for a sales talk.
The tools for selling Soulard as a unique place to live were basic and were similar to those used in the early days of Lafayette Square's revival. The June, 1999 issue of The Lafayette Square Marquis carried an article titled "The Faces and Places in Lafayette Square," beginning on page 10. Following are quotes from that article.
"Dick and Libby Midlam opened their home to everyone. The front parlor was the LSRC (Lafayette Square Restoration Committee) office. Ruth Kamphoefner, one of the ‘originals' still in the Square, said that room became the Square's real estate office. Since no realtor would list a house in the Square at the time, this is where you came to find out what was available and with whom to make deals. There were pictures and information about all of the houses for sale. On days of Square house tours, Libby and Ward Buckner (another Square pioneer still with us) set up a table outside on the lawn to market available properties. They were frequently the first faces that people coming to the Square saw."
The neighborhood promoters introduced newcomers to the neighborhood. They influenced the perceptions of their potential new neighbors as soon as these people set foot in Lafayette Square, even before the new people decided to purchase a home there.
Soulard pioneers knew of this marketing program, copied the basic elements and refined it. In fact, the marketing program came first and the Soulard Restoration Group was formed later to provide an official vehicle for the procedure. The Soulard Restoration Group came into existence to market Soulard.
 Bernard Haggerty, the piano tuner of Soulard (and St. Louis), tests the tones of an older instrument. Piano owners throughout the area depend on Bernard's skills - and his highly trained ears - to stay in tune. He also handles repairs and appraisals. (People Productions photo by Clark Rowley) |
Those who responded to the window signs received a sales talk about the neighborhood and a copy of the housing list. Prospective residents for Soulard were informed of efforts underway to upgrade the area, told the architecture was irreplaceable and well priced. They heard that a lot of time, energy and money were needed and that success required commitment and hard work. New buyers were enthusiastically encouraged to purchase a unique, affordable home, thereby helping to reclaim a historic neighborhood and to revitalize the unique housing stock.
New arrivals were embraced and enlisted to help. They were given something to do for the community sales effort. Momentum slowly developed as the depth of people resources increased. Efforts to bring in new buyers were supplemented by community-based projects to strengthen Soulard, such as beautification, clean up, fund raising, etc.
The program was boosted by a developer redoing many multi-family dwellings, taking advantage of tax laws to create high rent apartments. (A front loader was needed for their first project to clear the trash and garbage from the back yard.) In addition to saving a number of shells from demolition, the developer's up-scale apartments provided breeding grounds for future owner-occupants of Soulard homes.
Visible progress was not made in a week or a month. The effort stretched over years, for over a decade. Big gains came from small, everyday efforts. But the focus remained to attract new, dedicated owner-occupants, a group recognized as essential for long-term stability and strength of community.