A look back at one the city's oldest neighborhoods

By Heidi Glaus

KSDK -- It's one of the hotter areas of St. Louis. A place with unique restaurants, a cool coffee shop and even a place that sells chocolate beer.

That is what Lafayette Square looks like today, but the picture for the community started being painted more than 130 years later.

"Lafayette Park in the middle of the neighborhood was a staging ground for troops during the Civil War," explains Jeff Archuleta, a neighborhood business owner.

When the war was over, the city of St. Louis designated Lafayette Park a city park which some believe to make it the oldest park west of the Mississippi. Shortly thereafter, a neighborhood began to form.

"Well, it wasn't until about the 1870's that homes really began to be constructed here," Archuleta adds.

It quickly became one of the choice neighborhoods to live in, but in 1896, the neighborhood was literally uprooted.

"There was a devastating tornado that tore through south city went through this neighborhood, Soulard, downtown and across the river into Illinois and it really damaged a lot of homes. It ripped every tree in the park, just cut them like matchsticks," Archuleta explains.

At the turn of the century, people were preparing for the World's Fair and the neighborhood was making a comeback, but then the depression hit. Most of the homes were divided so rooms that could be rented. Over the years, Lafayette Square became a less than desirable place to call home.

"Well, during the depression a lot of people were out of work and people needed cheap housing. The houses by then were 50, 60 years old and I'm sure there was a lot of deferred maintenance because people just couldn't afford to keep them up," Archuleta points out.

Finally around 1969 or 1970 a few brave souls moved back into the neighborhood.

"I've heard stories of people buying a house for $1,000, $500," Archuleta says.

One, by one, houses were renovated.

By the middle of the 80's, the neighborhood was once again desirable. Now, some of the homes sell for more than a half million dollars.

So the picture might look similar to the way it did more than 100 years ago but, the story is far from over.