O'Fallon Neighborhood

The O'Fallon Neighborhood is located on the north side of the City of St Louis with two parks, O'Fallon and Fairgrounds, situated along its borders. The neighborhood is bounded by West Florissant, Harris Avenue, Algernon Street and Adelaide on the north, Pope Avenue on the northwest, Newstead Avenue on the west, Kossuth and Natural Bridge Avenues on the south via Fair Avenue and Warne on the East. The surrounding neighborhoods are Penrose to the west, The Greater Ville Neighborhood to the south, the College Hill and Fairground neighborhoods to the east.

Schools

As with all of the City neighborhoods, the O'Fallon Neighborhood is served by the St. Louis Public School District. Yeatman Liddell Middle School is the district's school found in the neighborhood on Athlone Avenue. Other district schools that are found closeby are the Ashland Elementary School in the Penrose Neighborhood; Bryan Hill Elementary School in the College Hill Neighborhood; three elementary schools in The Greater Ville Neighborhood which are Cote Brilliante, Hickey and Farragut elementary schools; and Sumner High School located in The Ville Neighborhood.

Libraries

Conveniently located in adjoining neighborhoods are two branches of the St. Louis Public Library. One library branch is the Divoll Branch Library on North Grand Avenue and the other is the Julia Davis Branch Library on Natural Bridge. These branches are two of the 15 public library branches that are found throughout the City of St. Louis.

Churches

The St. Louis Dream Center and Church is one church that is located in the O'Fallon Neighborhood. It is a non-denominational church and offers a wide range of ministries and services to the residents of O'Fallon and the surrounding community.

Parks and Recreation

There is easy access to two large St. Louis City parks located along O'Fallon's borders. One of them gives the neighborhood its name, O'Fallon Park, which is just across West Florissant and the other is Fairground Park which is found at Grand and Natural Bridge. Together these parks provide over 258 acres of green space for residents of O'Fallon and for the surrounding neighborhoods, as well. At Fairground Park, visitors will enjoy a 9 acre stocked fishing lake, a skating rink, swimming pool, biking and walking trails, athletic fields for baseball, softball, soccer and football; basketball and tennis courts; and a playground. O'Fallon Park has a 5 acre stocked fishing and boating lake with a boathouse; four large picnic pavilions, a seasonal spray pool; a playground, athletic fields for softball and football; and lighted tennis and basketball courts. The brand new O'Fallon Park Recreation Complex is scheduled to be completed at the end of 2012. The complex, as well as the new recreation complex in Carondelet Park, are the only new rec centers that have been built in any of the city parks since 1971. The O'Fallon Park Recreation Complex features an indoor Aquatic Center with slides, splash pool, children's pool and an outdoor lap pool. The rec center also has a gymnasium, fitness center, indoor track, locker rooms, community center and other amenities.

History

A little history of Fairground Park. It had its beginnings when several businessmen formed the St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association which then purchased the first 50 acres of the park grounds from John O'Fallon. Those businessmen held the first "St. Louis Fair" there in 1856 showcasing, you guessed it, agriculture and new mechanical innovations of the day. Any money made from the fair were to be used to improve and expand the fairgrounds. The fairground buildings at the time included an amphitheater, a floral hall, a mechanics building, a machine shop and livestock stalls. During the Civil War the Fair was canceled and the fairgrounds were used by the Union Army as "Camp Benton" for the training of Union troops and for a hospital to treat wounded and sick troops. After the Civil War, the St. Louis Fair resumed in 1866.

It was in 1873 that the park was opened to the public for daily use. Up until then, the park had been private and was only open to the public during the week-long Fair. During that time, a zoological gardens, or zoo, was established along with an art gallery and a natural history museum. The Fair was held annually until 1902 when preparations for the 1904 World's Fair brought about the final blow to the already wanning popularity of the annual fair. Throughout its neary fifty years, the St. Louis Fair saw horse racing, sulky racing, horse and livestock shows, displays of manufactured goods and textiles, museums and a zoo. Auto racing was even tried in the end to bolster attendance to the Fair. In 1902, when the Fair ended, the fairgrounds had a total of 132 acres and they lay abandoned until the City of St. Louis purchased the land in 1908 for a park. The bear pit structure, that was once part of the extensive zoological gardens, is the only remaining building left from the Fair.

A unique item in the park is a monument to Louis Kossuth, a Hungarian freedom fighter who is called the "Father of Hungarian Democracy". In 1852, he came to the United States, making Kossuth only the second foreign Statesman to be officially invited to the US and to address a joint session of Congress. He came to ask for help with the Hungarian fight for democracy which the US declined to give. He also visited St. Louis in 1852 and was warmly received. Kossuth is the name given to the street that runs east to west from Glasgow to Euclid forming the northern border of the park.

Ofallon Neighborhood Related Links:

City of St Louis Website