Lafayette Park Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Lafayette Square Archives

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

1866: Stephen Barlow Rocks Lafayette Park

Stephen D. Barlow was a pioneer; the first to develop land directly opposite Lafayette Park to the east. He was born in Vermont in 1816 and first came to St. Louis in 1839.

2019: The Chestnut Trees Of Lafayette Park

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.

1882: The Rules Of Lafayette Park

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.

1868: Sculptor, Philanthropist And Mad Doctor

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.

2021: The Spark In The Park – Lightning Bugs

Growing up in western Montana, the only exposure a kid gets to fireflies is anecdotal, like the bug in Sam And The Firefly from the Dr Seuss series of books; a tiny comic superhero. Moving to Missouri and camping on the Huzzah River, watching the early evening light display of real-life fireflies was memorable.

1881: Schnaider’s Beer Empire Part 1

Joseph Schnaider (1832-1881) was a man with beer in his DNA. Born in the Baden area of what is now Germany, young Joseph was already working as a brewers apprentice at the age of 15. He became foreman of a large brewery in Strasburg three years later. Attracted by the published charms of America, and seized by a travel bug, he toured France and then headed across the Atlantic. He somehow wound up in the friendly Germanic confines of St. Louis.

1888: Sledding In the 19th Century

In January of 1886, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported “crowds of coasters at the northwestern gate of Lafayette Park.” Sledding (aka ‘coasting’) in the 19th Century attracted “long lines of finely-dressed ladies and gentlemen.” They “shot down the steep incline from the flag pole, went whizzing through the big stone gates, across Park Avenue, and down the long hill (Missouri Avenue) to Chouteau Avenue. The neighborhood resounded with the laughter and raillery of the merry crowds.” Good times for a Saturday evening by all accounts.

1970: Sketches Of Lafayette Square

Here are a terrific series of sketches, originally published in St Louis Commerce magazine in May of 1970.

The drawings are by George Conrey, who was head of the art department at the Post-Dispatch in the early 1960’s. The magazine itself was a periodical from what is now known as the St Louis Regional Chamber Of Commerce. It began publication way back in 1918, about the time George was graduating art school at Washington University. It ceased operations in 2012.

1849: The Benton Statue – East and West

There stands a neoclassical bronze statue of Thomas Hart Benton, complete with toga and sandals, in Lafayette Park. I recently put the compass of my iPhone in a line from the Benton statue’s nose. West 270 degrees bang on. There’s a reason for this.