United States · Missouri · St. Louis
Lafayette Square, St. Louis — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Lafayette Square rings Lafayette Park in St. Louis, the city's oldest public park, with Chouteau Avenue to the north and Interstate 44 to the south.
About Lafayette Square
Where to stay in Lafayette Square
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
The four sides of Lafayette Park are houses, so a bed here means the boundary streets rather than the green itself. Chouteau Avenue is the northern seam and the shortest line toward downtown St. Louis, which puts Citygarden and the Gateway Arch within an easy run.
South Jefferson Avenue closes the western boundary and gets a car onto the road quickly, with the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site a few blocks further north. Interstate 44 seals the southern rows. Truman Parkway holds the eastern edge, and the walk in from it crosses the oldest public ground in the city.
About Lafayette Square
What are the main landmarks in Lafayette Square?
Local ordinance set Lafayette Park aside in 1836. It remains the oldest public park in St. Louis, ringed on all four sides by the house fronts that give the square its name. Everything else on the city's register sits outside the boundary streets.
The Gateway Arch, Citygarden, the City Museum and the National Blues Museum all belong to the downtown blocks past Truman Parkway, while the Scott Joplin House State Historic Site lies well north of Chouteau Avenue.
What is the history of Lafayette Square?
Lafayette Park predates the houses around it. A local ordinance set the ground aside in 1836, and the rows went up facing all four sides, which is why the square still reads as a frame around one green rectangle. Past 1836 the paper trail thins.
What survives is the ordinance, the park itself, and the outline of Chouteau Avenue, Interstate 44, Truman Parkway and South Jefferson Avenue holding the square in place.
Where is Lafayette Square?
Four edges fix the square: Chouteau Avenue north, Interstate 44 south, Truman Parkway east, and South Jefferson Avenue west, with Lafayette Park in the middle.
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Updated September 2026