Built St. Louis
South City: Soulard

I-55 remains a cruel barrier in the neighborhood, slicing off the northernmost streets from the rest of Soulard. Not nearly enough bridges were constructed to keep the two sections properly connected, and many north-south streets simply dead end at the highway's edge.

The houses and streets shown here are south of Chouteau avenue and north of Park Avenue, in a neighborhood designated "LaSalle Park" in recognition of its physical sunderance from Soulard. There are virtually no businesses here. Separated from the bars and restaurants that characterize the central streets of Soulard, they have an air of quiet seclusion, even though they are surrounded by highways and busy city streets. It is not hard to envision them as the "suburban" retreat that they were originally built to be.

Things weren't always so idylic for this enclave; the neighborhood was down at the heels in the late 1960s, when the nearby Ralston Purina Company became involved in an effort to rehabilitate the area. At the time, "rehabilitate" mean "destroy", but intervention by preservationists resulted in salvation and restoration for the area's beautiful red brick architecture. The Darste-Webb public housing projects once stood just west of here, casting a long shadow on the neighborhood. Traces of those days remain in the form of closed streets that barricade the district off from its surroundings, particularly to the west. A short pedestrian mall also replaces a portion of 10th Street.

  • Link: LaSalle Park neighborhood web site
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