Forward, Into The Past
Sometimes the research for a historical essay seems linear enough, but then pinballs off at unanticipated angles. I set about to simply find some background on Edward Krausnick, the little-remembered first superintendent of Lafayette Park. What followed is a reminder that real lives seldom follow a linear narrative.
This victorian home in miniature was built as a single story police station in 1867, around the same time as the fence surrounding Lafayette Park. It was a field office of sorts for the main Soulard Police Station. Police stationed here dealt with the large crowds routinely drawn to events like Thursday concerts. These were held at the bandstand, the ruins of which remain to the northwest of the Park House. In 1873, the Daily Globe reported: “It has been rare that a fine day has called out less than five thousand people to listen to the music.” Historian John Albury Bryan noted,“crowds on Sundays exceeded those of Thursdays.” He quoted the St. Louis Republican from May 23 1877. “Visitors to Lafayette Park on Sunday, between 1pm and 6:45 pm totaled 13,749.”
Continue reading “1867: The Lafayette Park House”
An officially sanctioned “black hip session” seemed unlikely in Lafayette Park during the summer of 1968, but it happened. There have been books written about the single year significance of 1968 in America. It kicked off with the Tet offensive, a coordinated nationwide assault that made the 85,000 US forces in Vietnam look shockingly inadequate for their task.
Continue reading “1968: A Black Hip Session In Lafayette Park”
Ice skating has been popular in Europe for as long as you’d care to record it. However, mass popularity in America developed late in the last half of the 19th Century. The first formal skating club in the U.S. formed in New York in 1863. An undisputed star of the day was early figure skater Jackson Haines.
The Missouri Audubon Society lists 434 distinct species of birds in the state. Did you know that one had a range limited to Lafayette Park in 1870, and has migrated no farther than 150 miles in the 150 years since?
A marker sits on the ground near the Kennett Street entrance to Lafayette Park. It looks like a headstone – concrete chipped by decades of reckless mowing; brass long ago gone green with age. “Creative Play Area” is inscribed on the plaque, and it’s a puzzle, as it overlooks a blank stretch of grass and a large shallow concrete dish. Yep, you’d have to be creative indeed to see it as a special play area. But it didn’t always look this way. The simple marker memorializes a playground once installed here, as well as the man behind it
Continue reading “1956: The First Lafayette Park Playground”
Once, there were an estimated 4 billion American chestnut trees in the eastern US. They were the redwoods of the East Coast, and many uses were developed for the ftrees. The trees grew quickly to massive dimensions, and were long the primary source for construction timber. They also provided a sweet nut (up to 6000 per tree!) for roasting and generated wistful references in various American songs and prose. Chestnut Mares and chestnut hair, and Under the spreading chestnut tree, the village smithy stands, and chestnuts roasting on an open fire.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch of April 18,1882 noted some interesting rules from the City Park Commissioners, regarding the use of Lafayette Park.
“The park is to be open to pedestrians only. No carriage, wagon, wheelbarrow, etc., is allowed, and the bicycle rider is not permitted there without special license.” No mention of Lime scooters, but pretty sure the law would have banned them. The course of a scooter seems even less predictable than that of a wheel barrow.
Continue reading “1882: The Rules Of Lafayette Park”
The Lafayette Park Conservancy is a group dedicated to the preservation and improvement of the heart of Lafayette Square. In 2007, it set about restoring its 22 foot tall monument to Thomas Hart Benton. 2008 marked the 100th anniversary of the death of its creator, Harriet Hosmer, and the 140th year of the statue in the park. Therefore, a program was devised to coincide those anniversaries with the unveiling of a thoroughly refreshed Benton in the park.
The American period between 1890 and 1920 is sometimes known as the Progressive Era. It was a time when the term “muckraking” was applied to journalism. The press led the way in opposing corruption in government and big business.
