Many St Louisans have heard of the Clinton Peabody Projects, an area they are not overly impressed with, an area they believe to be possessed of great crime and dangerous characters who at any moment are about to revolt and over come all law and order statutes set to guide and enhance the peace and tranquility in the City near "THE River." But not everyone knows that the Projects were the first built inexpensive City housing the City was to offer its citizens, in a time when the economy was not yet recovered from the great depression. The idea was good and it worked, at least for the first inhabitants who were lucky enough to qualify for an apartment. These lucky folks were families of world war two military men called up to serve their country. I don't remember when building first began because I was so young when they started, but I do remember watching them being built one area at a time. I am sure, however, they were completely finished by 1945 because that was the year our family moved into them shortly after my father went into the Army. To the east of us there was the ever flowing Mississippi just twelve blocks down the street, to the south of us was City Hospital, to the north of us was the very famous "Trade Winds Lounge" owned by St Louis's largest and most famous gangster of prohibition times, Jimmy Michaels. A lounge that was so quiet and trouble free, no one in the neighborhood knew who owned it and it was safe, it also sold the best fried chicken in the whole United States and provided take out. Then to the West was Lafayette Park just three blocks where large apartment houses stood that housed even poorer people than we were. They were very old and dingy and housed some pretty desperate characters, we thought. The rents were even cheaper than ours. While researching for a different subject today, February 1, 2004, I came upon this bit of information about these old and dingy multi storied houses that surrounded the park and was shocked to discover they had a history. --------- Lafayette Square, to the south of downtown St. Louis, began its life as a "public parade ground" in 1836. Dubbed "Grimsley's Folly," it was used for weekly maneuvers by the Union Army's Colonel Thornton Grimsley and his cavalry. It was not until the late 1870s that Lafayette Square became St. Louis's first suburb. The wealthiest and most notable citizens settled themselves away from the bustle of downtown and into the stately mansions built around the park's perimeter. The development of Lafayette Square into a neighborhood of stature, and a refuge and haven for its important residents, was lead by a group of wealthy visionaries. Their success captured the fancy of all of St. Louis. On Sundays, citizens of St. Louis made their way to the park by horse drawn carriage from downtown. Orchestra music wafted through the air from the park's bandstand. Visitors strolled on velvet lawns shaded by majestic oak and maple trees. Swans glided on a pristine lake with marvelous fountains that shot clear waters into the air. Lafayette Park was not only a summertime treat -- it was the place for the fashionable of St. Louis to "see and be seen." By 1896, the neighborhood's popularity lead to its decline. No longer a secluded and peaceful retreat, the Lafayette Square was abandoned by wealthy and influential residents, who migrated further west to St. Louis's newly fashionable Central West End. The departure marked the beginning of the Square's first demise and eventual disintegration of its original strategy and direction. --------- This news should wipe away forever St Louis's misconception that the Clinton Peabody Projects was in a rowdy location of only raucous citizens hell bent on creating confusion and uproar. Just think, in 1870 the area became a suburb, and in 1945 we moved to the suburbs. I remember the Easters that we went to the Park for Easter egg hunts, and times when my sister Sharon and I went there to play on the play grounds and throw pebbles into the pristine lake. There were also grand times when I would point those canons at my sister and shout, "BOOM, Sharon you're dead, the canon ball just knocked off your ear." And she would yell, "Mom, he's doing it again." What makes this site so historically important is; It is the site where a vicious ungrateful squirrel bit my finger while feeding it a peppermint stick and the depraved little monster got away completely free from any physical harm or retribution. Last June I had occasion to visit that park and discovered that the descendants of that vicious little rat, in squirrels clothing, were happily gamboling from tree to tree just waiting for the next unsuspecting finger to come by with a peppermint stick held out. Beware when visiting Lafayette park in St. Louis.----Jim