The Flora Conservancy
of Lafayette Park

The Flora Conservancy of Lafayette Park is a partnership between The Flora Conservancy of Forest Park and The Lafayette Park Conservancy, two not-for-profit organizations. The partnership was formed to accomplish the goals set forth in the Lafayette Park Master Plan. This alliance receives support from the City Parks Department, St. Louis Master Gardeners Association, and the Lafayette Square Restoration Committee.

Lafayette Park can trace its roots back to the founding of tiny village of St. Louis in 1764. It is the last piece of the St. Louis Common, reserved for use as a Public Square by Mayor Darby in 1836. The Lafayette Park Conservancy was founded in 2001, on the 150th anniversary of the passage of St. Louis Ordinance 2741 establishing Lafayette Park.

Max Kern, an early landscape architect, designed Lafayette Park. In 1878, this Victorian strolling park was described as "one of the most beautiful and effective pieces of landscape gardening on the continent" in Dacus and Buel's *A Tour Of St. Louis*. Surviving features include the Police Station, Grotto, central lake, iron fence, statues of Senator Benton and George Washington, Revolutionary War cannons, and Boathouse.

Volunteers tend a wide variety of gardens throughout the park including formal beds around Washington's statue, container plantings in urns, and cottage style gardens in the Grotto. Paths following the original Victorian design lead visitors from garden to garden.

If you enjoy gardening, the Flora Conservancy of Lafayette Park offers a wonderful opportunity to work with plants in a beautiful Victorian setting. Volunteers work in the park each opportunity to enjoy the company of other gardeners, share your gardening skills, and help fulfill the vision of the Lafayette Park Master Plan.

To volunteer, check the Lafayette Park Conservancy web site at lafayettepark.org, or call the Flora hotline at 314-53FLORA. You may leave a message at 314-772-5724. Press 2 for The Lafayette Park Conservancy.