Unique history of Lafayette Square & Soulard neighborhoods
Little-known history of the people and buildings that make these neighborhoods unique
On July 20th, head to Spine Indie Bookstore and Cafe at 1976-82 Arsenal for Unseen STL History. This month we’re featuring Mike Jones and Nathan Jackson talking about the history of the Lafayette Square and Soulard neighborhoods. The fun starts at 7:00 PM, with doors opening at 6:00 PM.
First up, Mike will consider the lucky breaks necessary for a 200-acre enclave of Victorian homes to survive, largely intact, into the 21st century. He will share the stories of a handful of pivotal historical characters who helped make Lafayette Square the neighborhood it is today. These people include a far-sighted city mayor, a couple of wealthy philanthropists, a crusading architect, a driven sculptor, a widow with five children who helped pioneer the area’s recovery, sundry Germans, and an unscrupulous building inspector.
Next, Nathan’s going to give us the lowdown on historic Soulard by discussing some of the buildings lost over the years. Through this history, he will paint a picture of what the neighborhood was like in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Included in his talk will be some of the reasons these buildings were lost, including the damage from the 1896 tornado and urban renewal—specifically, the construction of the Third Street Expressway in 1952. He will also discuss how the neighborhood narrowly avoided complete demolition and how we are lucky to have some significant buildings still standing in the neighborhood.
Our speakers:
Despite a degree and career in biochemistry, Mike Jones’s passion has always been history. Following retirement, he became a docent for the Missouri History Museum and St. Louis Science Center. He interned at the Missouri State Archives before beginning a popular local history website, the Lafayette Square Archives, as well as a Facebook page. Over six years, he has written more than 100 essays covering the history of Lafayette Square and South St. Louis. A longtime resident of the Square, he has served on the boards of both the neighborhood association and the Lafayette Park Conservancy. Mike designed and wrote content for the Conservancy website and produced historical booklets on both the park fence and the Benton statue.
Although he’s a history student at UMSL, most of Nathan Jackson’s knowledge about local history didn’t come from textbooks—he’s been visiting historic places like Soulard and Laclede’s Landing since he was young. Some locations around the city that really get his heart racing include the Grand Ave Water Tower, the Fairgrounds Park Bear Pits, and the Old Post Office. After a three-year stint in Pennsylvania, Nathan returned to St. Louis and got down to business. Between October 2018 and April 2019, he built his tour company, St. Louis History and Architecture, from scratch. He writes articles on 19th-century and early 20th-century buildings around St. Louis and gives walking tours of 9 different St. Louis neighborhoods. He focuses on tying together the history, architecture, and urban planning of the neighborhoods of St. Louis, with 19th-century urban neighborhoods being his specialty. In 2021, he appeared in a series called “Nathan’s Neighborhood History” on the YouTube channel This House. He’s in the process of building his own YouTube channel and creating more videos related to St. Louis history. You can learn more about Nathan on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
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