Lindenwood Park Directory 2024

2024 | Lindenwood Park Community Directory 30 History of Lindenwood Park The area which would become today’s Lindenwood Park, like the rest of the St. Louis region, was once home to Native American tribes such as the Illini and Osage. The River de Peres, or “River of the Fathers,” was named by the French and was likely once a clear-flowing stream, surrounded by woods and forests. The first private ownership of the area that would include Lindenwood Park was part of a Spanish territorial land grant known as the Charles Gratiot League Square, a vast area whose boundaries roughly followed present-day Kingshighway to the east, Pernod Avenue to the south, McCausland Avenue to the west, and Forest Park to the north. Following Charles Gratiot’s application in 1785, he built a log house and cultivated a farm with his wife Victoire, a sister of Auguste Chouteau, a founder of St. Louis. After Charles Gratiot’s death in 1817, the Gratiot Square League was divided among his heirs. Many subsequent sales and divisions of this original property resulted in the development of Lindenwood Park as it is today. But unlike most of the St. Louis region, whose growth occurred as people moved in concentric waves away from the city’s downtown core, Lindenwood Park’s origins occurred more independently. Urbanization of Lindenwood Park began in the 1880s as a result of the extensive train yard built and operated by the St. Louis and San Francisco Railway (the “Frisco”), still operating today as part of BNSF Railway. Soon homes were being built to house the railroad managers, engineers, and laborers necessary to operate the train yard. One of its earliest subdivisions was Harlem Place, developed in 1888, whose boundaries were the south side of Fyler Avenue from Ivanhoe Avenue to the Frisco Railway, then southward beyond Hancock Avenue. And today this area is home to most of Lindenwood Park’s oldest and most historic homes. A short street connecting Smiley and Scanlan avenues, Frisco Street, recognizes this era. The naming of Lindenwood Park also developed at this time. What became the Mittelberg Farm, covering the territory south of Marquette Avenue, came under the ownership of Frederick Mittelberg about 1862. Mittelberg obtained Linden saplings from Germany to plant on his land. The Linden trees performed well and were widely admired. Mittelberg’s estate sold the land to Sam T. Rathell, who subdivided it under the name Lindenwood in 1888. The Frisco soon began operation of a commuter train stop, named Lindenwood Station, connecting downtown St. Louis to the area. Located at the corner of Marquette and McCausland avenues, the 1903 Frisco Railway’s timetable shows 10 commuter trains, five in each direction, operating daily Monday – Friday, with 12 trains on Saturday and six on Sunday. Easy access to St. Louis jobs and services helped create and continue residential growth in this northwestern area of Lindenwood Park, and the creation of new schools, like Longfellow School in 1891 (since demolished), and churches, such as Epiphany Catholic Church in 1911, soon followed. But the boom period for development of Lindenwood Park occurred during the 1920s and 1930s between the World Wars. This period coincided with the rise of our automotive culture (commuter service on the Frisco line ended in 1924) and led to the widening and development of its most important commercial corridors along Watson, Chippewa, and Hampton avenues. Most of Lindenwood Park’s residential stock was also built during this time, in an era where,