Soulard Star Directory 2027

✯ SOULARD STAR DIRECTORY | 2027 4 A Brief History of Soulard By Jay Gibbs About 1840, the growing city of St. Louis reached south into the “Frenchtown” area, a mix of common fields and French-owned farms.With urbanization encroaching, various Frenchtown landowners hired surveyors to stake out streets, alleys, and salable lots, continuing the traditional urban grid. One landowner, Julia Soulard, donated the land to establish a public market in the midst of her newly platted blocks. From the 1830s to the 1920s, European immigrants poured into America in successive waves and St. Louis burgeoned. Immigrants built Soulard’s buildings on European-style narrow lots using Americanized architectural styles, including Federal, Italianate and Second Empire, all fashioned in ubiquitous red brick. The constantly shifting, diverse population shared the same streets, stores, schools, and churches. Following WWII, suburban flight began, fueled by the G.I. Bill and the dream of home ownership.Those of means fled old, crowded city neighborhoods. From 1950 to 1970, St. Louis lost well over 200,000 residents. Soulard was affected negatively in all measurable ways. By 1970 Soulard was a bona fide slum. At that nadir, social activists and urban pioneers began Soulard’s renaissance by organizing its designation as a Federal and Local Historic Districts. Rehabbers began saving buildings. By the 1980s, the neighborhood stirred back to life.Today, Soulard is again a thriving neighborhood, still anchored by its namesake farmers market, still rich in architectural charm, and still socially and economically diverse. For more information about Soulard, visit these websites: soulard.org facebook.com/soulardsaintlouis soulard.nextdoor.com stlouis-mo.gov/neighborhoods (Select Soulard) ✯ ✯ ✯ Soulard Farmers Market By Jay Gibbs The Soulard Farmers Market is the last survivor of once-numerous public markets in St. Louis.A combination of good location, grit, and city subsidies has kept this market viable long after the others had ceased to exist. Soulard Farmers Market was created when Julia Cerré Soulard donated two undeveloped half-blocks of her real estate to the city of St. Louis in 1841. Her instructions dictated that the donated property must be used as a public marketplace in perpetuity, lest it be reclaimed by her heirs. In the mid-1920s, the city proposed an $87 million bond issue for public improvements throughout the city. One of the many proposals was for a new, cleaner, modern Soulard Market building. Any surviving original buildings and later shed pavilions were all razed to make way for the deluxe new facility. Construction began in 1928.The new building’s two-story central structure contains a loggia and a roofed open gallery with arches inspired by the 1419 Brunelleschi Foundling Hospital in Florence, Italy. A central two-story section built over 8th Street boasted an upstairs gymnasium and all-purpose hall. It was flanked by four block-long wings, two on each side.The total cost: $267,000.The impressive new facility was dedicated in May, 1929, during gala festivities attended by 20,000 people. Today, the Market is open year-round 8 am to 5 pmWednesday through Saturday. For more information, contact the market office at 314-622-4180.