Bob Cassilly Archives - Lafayette Square Archives

1977: A Dining Critic in the Square

Doug McDaniel was a longtime resident of Lafayette Square and an attorney who represented the neighborhood in some of its crucial moments during the 70s and 80s. In 1972, he and his wife bought 2007 Park Avenue, a former funeral home along with an adjacent vacant lot.

Ever enthusiastic about bringing others into the turnaround of the Square, he was profiled by Post-Dispatch feature writer Elaine Viets in 1985. She was intrigued by a $1,500 grant that the LSRC secured from (at the time) Citicorp. The neighborhood organization used it in giving away 500 house tour tickets, to “help the geographically disadvantaged” folks of West County. Doug admitted it was a lure for those in the county to discover Lafayette Square.

Many county people have not been east of Skinker in a long time. This mission will bring these poor souls into the city… Lafayette Square will work its old charm. We’ll convert any new people. We welcome everyone. We want them to be saved.

McDaniel was humorously opinionated. He took this talent to the Lafayette Square Meter (now Marquis) in June of 1977, where he initiated a restaurant review page.

2020: A Walk In Lafayette Park

I recently took a look at an enlarged view of Lafayette Park, and came away pretty amazed at what the map recognized.

1956: The First Lafayette Park Playground

An often overlooked memorial

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