RESIDENTS

News and Resources for those Who Live in the Neighborhood

peabody building

Schools

Lafayette Square residents have many education options including Saint Louis Public Schools (SLPS)-- and a wide selection of charter, independent, and parochial schools around the St. Louis area.

Peabody Elementary School (1224 S. 14th St.) is part of SLPS and serves students in Pre-Kindergarten through 5th grade.

Lafayette Preparatory Academy (1900 Lafayette Ave.) is a charter school serving students in Kindergarten through 8th grade.

The Missouri Department of Education maintains this list of St. Louis area charter schools.

Independent Schools of St. Louis (ISSL) represents 42 of the region's independent and private schools.

The Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis operates more than 100 schools in the area.

Navigate STL Schools is a non-profit focused on helping St. Louis families find local schools that are the right fit for the unique needs of their children.

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Social Groups

Moms in the Square
Moms in the Square is a group of mothers who provide support to each other and develop friendships. We form connections between moms and families and nurture a sense of community in one of St. Louis' most unique neighborhoods. We welcome women who come to motherhood via a variety of paths, who live within (or close to) the boundaries of Lafayette Square in St. Louis, MO, and who have at least one child under the age of 18. Activities include a monthly moms-only social, book club, walking groups, and playdates. Our Facebook group helps us to facilitate monthly socials, other events, clothing and toy exchanges, support for each other, and the sharing of ideas and resources about motherhood and family. We also maintain a Google group email list to keep non-Facebook users informed about events.
Email Christina Ryan for more information or to join the Google group: christinaryan1995@gmail.com
Dads in the Square
Dads in the Square group that meets a few times per year. Email Stephen Ryan to join: cactus911@yahoo.com.
Emergency - Dialing 911

Community Resources

The Citizens’ Service Bureau (CSB) is the customer service department for the City of St. Louis.

Services

  • Derelict Vehicles
  • Graffiti
  • Parks
  • Recycling
  • Sidewalks
  • Stray Animals
  • Street Signs
  • Street/Alley Issues
  • Street Lighting
  • Traffic Signals
  • Trash/Debris
  • Trees
  • Unsecured Building
  • Water Main Break
  • Weeds/High Grass

Preparation

Have the exact street address where the problem is occurring (or intersection if it is a traffic problem) and be prepared to give an accurate description of what you have observed.

Contact Information

Phone: (314) 622-4800
Web: stlouis-mo.gov/services
Twitter: @stlcsb

Fees

None

What to Expect

After filing your request, CSB will give you a service request number and let you know which City department is going to respond to this request. You will receive a date by which they expect to have a response from that department. A response may indicate completion of work or it may indicate that an inspection has been completed and the responsible party (usually the property owner) has been issued a violation notice. Either way, you may contact CSB after the target response date to find out the status of your request. You may also find basic information about the status of your request on-line.

 

 

FOR EMERGENCIES, DIAL 911

For Non-Emergencies, contact the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department at 314-231-1212.

Neighborhood Liaison Officer:
Sherdon Douglas
sdouglas@slmpd.org
314-444-2576


Lafayette Square is located in the St. Louis Police Department's Third District.

Led by Captain Joseph Morici, the Third District includes the neighborhoods of Benton Park, Benton Park West, Compton Heights, Fox Park, Gravois Park, Kosciusko, Lafayette Square, Lasalle, Marine Villa, McKinley Heights, Peabody/Darst/Webbe, Soulard, The Gate District, Tower Grove East and portions of Dutchtown.

Community Outreach Meetings

Meetings are held every three months (March, June, September and December) on the second Thursday at 7:00 p.m. at the Five Star Senior Center located at 2832 Arsenal. Due to COVID 19, meeting details are subject to change.

Third District Contact Information 

Central Patrol Division
919 North Jefferson
St. Louis, MO 63106
314-444-2500

  • Ameren (Alley Lights): 314-342-1000
  • Laclede Gas: 314-342-0800​
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Government Directory

Your voice matters. Find out more about who represents The Square.  

Elected Officials

  • Alderman – Ward 6: Christine Ingrassia, 314-622-3287, ingrassiac@stlouis-mo.gov
  • Alderman – Ward 7: Jack Coatar 314-622-3287, coatarj@stlouis-mo.gov

 

 

LSRC-substation

Police Substation

The Substation at 1927 A Park Ave. provides a comfortable stopping point for police officers to file reports and take a break. It encourages police presence in The Square and allows third district officers to get to know residents and issues in our neighborhood. The Substation is underwritten by the Lafayette Square Restoration Committee which funds the rented space, utilities, and sundries for the officers. Many residents and businesses contributed to this station since its opening in 2010. Thanks to all! You can help support the cause by making donations of food and drinks for our officers.

Suggested Donations

​Bottled Water, Soda, Juice, Trail Mix, Nuts, Raisins, Prepackaged Snacks, Cereal Bars, Granola Bars

How to donate?

Your targeted donation from this website’s “Donate” page goes directly to the substation,
​To arrange for pick-up, contact safety@lafayettesquare.org. Please include a note with your name and address if you would like a letter for your taxes. Thank you!

 

 

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Community Garden

The Lafayette Square Community Garden, created in 1997 at the corner of Park and Dolman Avenues in Lafayette Square, provides a site for residents to grow fresh healthy foods, fresh flowers, and herbs in the company of friends and neighbors. It stimulates interest in gardening and promotes a sense of community and environmental awareness. Gardeners have grown a multitude of vegetables, herbs and annual and perennial flowers; there have been paper makers, natural dye makers and herbalists give demonstrations. Whatever your interests, we welcome you to join us on a first come, first served basis.

The Community Garden was purchased and placed in the Gateway Greening Land Trust in 2008. The Lafayette Square Garden was the first in St. Louis to enter into this type of agreement. In 2013, adjacent land to the north was also purchased and placed in the Gateway Greening Land Trust.

As part of this cooperation with the Land Trust, we made these agreements:

  • allow the lots to remain a community garden
  • maintain the beauty of that corner
  • increase the number of beds
  • replace the wooden fence with iron fencing in accordance with the Lafayette Square Historic Code
  • make space available for all to enjoy when gardening or socializing

The Main Garden is located at 1701-1707 Park Avenue. The North Garden is located at 1319 Dolman Avenue.

To request a plot in the Community Garden you can email us at garden@lafayettesquare.org

 

by Linda Weiner and Steve Fliesler*

The story of the Lafayette Square community garden is intimately tied to the redevelopment of the Lafayette Square neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. Lafayette Square enjoyed its heyday during the 1870’s and 1880’s as the “Beverly Hills” of rich merchants and traders who had made their fortune along the Mississippi River. It is home to Lafayette Park, the first public park in the United States west of the Mississippi, then and now a focal point of the neighborhood. In 1896, a tornado ravaged the community and triggered a westward move of the elite. The stately Victorian homes slowly became dilapidated and abandoned as the inner city of St. Louis engulfed them, while suburbia sprawled further west. In the early 1970’s, a few daring people envisioned the restoration of the neighborhood. Three-story remnant homes (“shells”) could be bought for as little as a thousand dollars and were fully rehabbed over the years by successive waves of restorationists. By the year 2000, nearly all of the homes around the central park and surrounding three-block radius were fully restored.

As part of the revitalization, avid gardeners and others volunteered to beautify the neighborhood by restoring Lafayette Park, including its park house, grotto around the pond, and its rock garden on the West side of the Park. The gardeners began spreading their “green revolution” around the neighborhood, transforming abandoned lots into orchards and native grasslands. In 1997, this boundless band of agrarians decided to build a community vegetable garden, embracing the dream that, one day, they would sink their teeth into firm, juicy homegrown tomatoes and pick fresh basil, oregano, and other herbs right in their own neighborhood. Word spread like wildfire and a core group of 14 gardeners, comprising a diversity of race, gender, and sexual orientation, met, decided on the site, drew plans, and wrote a variety of grants to Gateway Greening, Operation Brightside, and the St. Louis Regional Arts Council and also raised private donations. The grants were approved (a total sum of $20,000), the plans were approved by the Lafayette Square Restoration Committee (LSRC, the neighborhood organization), and the garden was set to be built.

On a brisk day in March of 1997, the materials were delivered and these fearless gardeners marched onto the then eastern edge of the neighborhood, beyond which were sites of urban decay: the haunting shadow of the abandoned old City Hospital, the high-rise public housing projects, and many weed-ridden, garbage-strewn abandoned lots. The chosen lot at the corner of Park Avenue and Dolman stood empty, awaiting its makeover. In one weekend, 19 garden beds were built and filled with composted soil provided by the city.

Each weekend for six consecutive weeks, a new task was accomplished under the relentless leadership of Linda Weiner whose early Saturday morning phone calls were the dreaded bugle call to work. A picket fence was erected over the course of two weekends and stained the next. The post holes for the fence were particularly difficult to dig, because the stone foundation of a building that previously stood on the lot interfered. A 175-foot long perennial border was planted with donations from the Missouri Botanical Garden and Gateway Greening’s “Great Perennial Divide.” A brick patio was built as the next step, and the construction of a pergola was contracted to local carpenters Paul Iskovich, of Lafayette Square, and his business partner in M&I Woodworking. They also built benches overlooking the garden. Finally, an herb garden was established around the perimeter of the brick patio, using herb plants donated by the Webster Groves Herb Society. It’s a wonder any gardener had time to plant his or her own vegetables! However, by late August of 1997, the gardeners did celebrate the fruits of their labor at a wonderful garden party, to which the rest of the community was invited to share in the delight of this new oasis in the neighborhood.

Subsequently, additions and improvements to the Lafayette Square community garden were made. In 1999, local artist Andy Cross, noted scenic artist for the St. Louis Muny Opera Company and also a gardener from another St. Louis neighborhood community garden, was commissioned to paint a mural depicting a Victorian garden scene on the wall of the building immediately adjacent to the garden on its western border. Paints and materials were purchased with a $2,500 grant from the St. Louis Regional Arts Council, as well as additional donations from Ameren UE, neighborhood businesses and individuals. This beautiful mural now serves as the backdrop to the brick patio and pergola. A cutting flower garden was added along the lawn area. Four additional beds were added in 2004 by Roy Peterson, one of the founders of the garden. An adjacent, grassy field just north of the community garden was planted with fruit trees largely due to the efforts of David “Kingpin” Bown, transforming the once barren lot into a flourishing community orchard. Now termed “The North Garden,” several new beds were added there, and in 2013 the lot became an official part of the community garden. In 2016 another five beds were added to the main garden. There are currently 46 beds between the two gardens. When new home construction near The North Garden required demolition of fruit trees, the new owners agreed to plant a new row of fruit trees nearby to replace those that were removed.

In January, 2008, the Lafayette Square Community Garden was purchased from the St. Louis City Land Reulitization Authority and placed in trust with the Gateway Greening Land Trust. It will be kept as a garden maintained by the community of Lafayette Square in perpetuity as long as it is well maintained. In 2013 The North Garden parcel was added to the Land Trust.
Over the years, the Lafayette Square community garden has garnered numerous awards and recognition. In 1999, it won First Place in the Gateway Greening Urban Garden Contest, as well as an Honorable Mention for the watering system design (the brainchild of Paul Sauer, then LSRC President). The garden received an Honorable Mention in 1999 and Third Place in 2000 in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Great Garden Contest, for Best Garden. Subsequent awards have included First Place (2001), Third Place (2003), Second Place (2004), and Honorable Mention (2006) in Gateway Greening’s Urban Garden Contests, for Established Community Garden; and Third Place (2004) for Best Scarecrow in the Gateway Greening Urban Garden Contest. In addition, the garden was one of five gardens mentioned in an article on endangered urban gardens in Fine Gardening Magazine (notably featuring Rosalie Truong, a founding member of the Lafayette Square community garden). The garden also was a designated stop on the 2004 Statewide Master Gardener’s Annual Meeting Tour, and on the 2005 Missouri Botanical House Garden Members’ Tour, and is an annual destination for the Lafayette Square Spring Home and Garden Tour.

Today, the Lafayette Square Community Garden stands as a gem on the eastern boundary of the neighborhood, a further testament to the energy, vision, and commitment that helped to restore the beauty, grandeur, and vitality of a once nearly vanquished neighborhood.

*contributions to the story by Rosalie Truong, Jim McCarter, Kim Peterson, Sue Pinker-Dodd

Last updated 8/24/2018

How do I request a garden bed?

Email garden@lafayettesquare.org with your name, home address and phone number.

Once you are assigned a bed, you will need to do the following—

  • Pay the $25 annual bed fee.
  • Be a member in good standing of the neighborhood association (Lafayette Square Restoration Committee). Memberships start at $35 per person.
  • Sign the Community Garden Agreement
  • Perform work to maintain the common areas of the garden during work days and throughout the gardening season. This consists of weeding, mulching, trimming, pruning, painting, and replacing boards on beds. You will meet a lot of passionate and knowledgeable gardeners as you work in the garden.

How does my garden get watered?

The main garden’s irrigation system runs on a timed schedule and bed owners may also water as needed. Beds in the North garden need to be watered by owners.

Garden Bed Rules

Once you have a bed, it is yours to plant whatever you desire, but you need to weed and maintain it. The bed does not have to be impeccable, but it should be something you are proud of and be actively gardening for the season. We prefer you don’t plant invasive species like mint or raspberries, but they can be confined to a pot in the ground.

Sprawling veggies like pumpkins, cukes, zucchini, squash, and melons are permissible as long as they are kept within the confines of your bed. We recommend that you build a trellis and grow these types of plants vertically.

Lafayette Square

Historic Code

The Preservation Committee is a subcommittee of the Lafayette Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA). Lafayette Square is a National and Local historic district. The local district regulations are set forth by ordinance and are the result of a partnership between the neighborhood and Cultural Resources Office and were originally written in 2010 and amended in 2019.  The Preservation Committee is responsible for being informed about all aspects of development within the Lafayette Square Historic District by:

  • Encouraging the completion of restoration of all existing historical structures within the Lafayette Square Historic District
  • Providing assistance and guidance on renovation and restoration projects with regard to compliance with the ordinance
  • Reviewing proposed construction and renovation projects for compliance with the Lafayette Square Historic Ordinance and the Lafayette Square Urban Plan and, as appropriate, providing feedback to residents as to potential changes or improvements to comply with the existing code.
  • Functioning as the official body representing the LSNA in reference to the Historic Code and the Urban Plan to the appropriate agencies of the City of St. Louis (Cultural Resources Office and Preservation Board) and to the neighborhood

If you are planning on renovating your home or business, or are thinking about new construction, we suggest reading the Ordinance and detailed Standards linked below. We regret that we cannot officially endorse any contractors or products. However, we encourage you to use the resident social media groups to ask your neighbors for advice.  If you have questions about the Historic Code, we recommend that you contact the Cultural Resources Office to work with skilled staff.  Additional assistance in understanding the code can be found by contacting the Preservation Committee by emailing preservation@lafayettesquare.org.

Some general guidelines on our Historic Ordinance the goal of which is to ensure the Square retains its distinct architectural styles:

  • Restrictions apply only to building exteriors
  • Public-facing windows must be wood, not vinyl or aluminum
  • All structures visible from the street must be brick
  • Fences must reflect historical styles in the area and have height restrictions
  • If you need guidance on your project, please reach out to the Cultural Resources Office at the City of St. Louis at 314-657-3865.

Matt Negri, 2023 Chair of the LSNA Preservation Committee: Preservation@lafayettesquare.org

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Residents Calendar

Residents' Calendar

Coming Soon: A calendar of events for neighborhood residents.