Fairgrounds

Subdivisions

By 1850, the larger surveys had been subdivided into tracts, then mostly rural, held by many prominent St. Louisans. Jesse Lindell owned one of these which reached along the south side of the Natural Bridge Plank Road from present Glasgow Avenue to Clay Avenue. West of this was the Old Orchard tract, held in the name of Henry Clay, the Kentucky statesman. The future site of the fairgrounds was the property of Colonel John O'Fallon, and to its west, extending to Euclid Avenue, was the farm of Captain J. M. White. North of this were properties of Elizabeth Hull, Peter Vandeventer, Walker B. Carter, and Henry M. Shreve. Earliest residential subdivision to be platted in the area as White Place, bounded by Natural Bridge, White (now Newstead), Margaretta and Fair Avenues. It was a portion of the J. M. White farm, owned by the well-known riverman, and was platted in 1859.

Other early subdivisions were North Cote Brilliante (1861), Lindell's Additions (1860), Chouteau Place (1875), and James B. Clay's Subdivision of the Old Orchard Tract (1876). Sections of the area nearest to the Fairgrounds developed early, beginning in the late 1860s, especially those east of Grand Avenue. Further west, the urban build-up began in the 1880s and was well along by the turn of the century. After 1900, the area south of O'Fallon Park began to develop in such subdivisions as O'Fallon Heights, Plymouth Park and Wanstrath Place. West of Marcus and north of Natural Bridge was a district developed by the 1920s. One of the last subdivisions in the Fairground area was San Francisco Court, opened in 1957. This area's relatively rapid development was obviously aided by good transit facilities leading to such area attractions as the old Fairgrounds and the baseball parks in its vicinity.