Soulard, St. Louis

From its earliest days as Old Frenchtown, Soulard,

St. Louis, has embodied a bold and colorful tapestry of

immigrant life in America. With remarkable depth, authors

Montesi and Deposki have detailed the birth, destruction,

and final restoration of this historic area through over

200 photographs.

Bequeathed by the widow of surveyor Antoine Soulard

to the city of St. Louis in 1842, what was once a plot of

land intended for a vegetable market became a center of a

community of popular parks, breweries, churches, and shops.

Masses of Eastern European immigrants flocked to Soulard,

just outside downtown St. Louis, to start a new life of hope

and growth. German, Irish, Italian, and Czech influences can

be seen here in the images of the infamous brew barons,

horse-drawn market carts, and flounder houses that the

authors have reproduced with insightful captions. Captured

here in original photographs is the inescapable fury of the

Great Cyclone of 1896 that destroyed the area but not its

clenched-fist determination to survive. Montesi and Deposki

take us on a heroic journey through the annals of time to

discover the tenacious heart of a neighborhood now known

as St. Louis’ most popular venue for jazz and blues