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Laclede’s Landing

DESCRIPTION: Laclede's Landing, named for Pierre Laclede, St. Louis' French founder, is a vibrant entertainment district just north of the Gateway Arch along the Mississippi River. Once the hub of river trade where fur trappers rendezvoused, music now echoes off the Landing's cobblestone streets, and restaurants, music clubs and shops fill the former warehouses that once held tobacco, cotton and other products brought to St. Louis by steamboats. On the edge of the Landing, modern casinos recall a time when gambling boats plied the Mississippi.

If there's one place that conjures up images of St. Louis' river past, Laclede's Landing is it. Streets in the nine square block area of the Landing are the same as they were when Laclede laid them out in his original plan.

Here cobblestone thoroughfares harken back to the time when St. Louis was a center of river commerce and conjure images of traders selling their furs, tobacco and cotton arriving on steam boats and paddle wheelers taking on and discharging passengers. In fact, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Landing was a busy area of manufacturing and commerce.

Today the Landing's preserved historic brick and iron façade buildings house some of St. Louis' best restaurants, exciting music clubs, the country's longest running dinner theatre, the unique Dental Health Theatre and the Laclede's Landing Wax Museum. At the foot of the landing is the President Casino, St. Louis' only downtown casino.

In addition to its role as an entertainment district, Laclede's Landing is a retail, commercial and office center. In fact, the Landing has the largest concentration of rehabbed office space between Chicago and New Orleans.

Steeped in St. Louis' river past, Laclede's Landing was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

SLOGAN: Where the excitement, adventure and spirit of St. Louis began . .it continues on Laclede Landing.

ADDRESS: Laclede's Landing Merchants Association, 801 N. Second St., St. Louis, MO 63102

LOCATION: East of downtown and north of the Gateway Arch along the Mississippi River. The Landing is bounded by the Mississippi River, The Eads and Martin Luther King Bridges and Interstate 70.

PHONE: 314-241-5875

WEB SITE: www.lacledeslanding.org

GETTING THERE: From downtown, take Memorial Drive north to Washington Avenue and follow Washington east to the Landing. Parking is available near the foot of Washington in the Arch parking garage or in lots along Lenore K. Sullivan Boulevard, North First Street, North Second Street, North Third Street or at Morgan and North First Streets.

METROLINK: Laclede's Landing is easily accessible from other parts of St. Louis and from Illinois by MetroLink light rail system. Take MetroLink to the Laclede's Landing station which is on the southern edge of the Landing. After exiting the train, walk down a flight of steps to the street and proceed north to the shops, restaurants and clubs.

BEST KNOWN FOR: Laclede's Landing is known for its unique restaurants, exciting music clubs and eclectic shops as well as its collection of some of the best preserved post-Civil War commercial buildings in the country.

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Laclede's Landing features many interesting shops, music clubs and restaurants-some national, others local.
  • The Landing is filled with historic 19th and early 20th century brick and iron faced buildings. (See Architecture section below.)
  • Cobblestone streets add to the atmosphere of the area and are a reminder of St. Louis' early days.
  • Clamorgan Alley, which runs north-south from Washington Avenue to Morgan Street between First and Second Streets was originally called "Commercial Alley." It was re-named to honor Jacques, a fur trader, merchant, financier and land speculator who owned land nearby. Clamorgan, thought to have been of Welsh, Portuguese, Spanish and African, lived where the Peper Tobacco Building is located on First Street.
  • Moll's Clock, a large Seth Thomas clock at the corner of North Second and Morgan Streets, was designed in 1921 for the former Bickle-Moll Grocery Company, originally at DeBaliviere and Delmar Boulevards. The clock was restored by Union Electric and moved to Laclede's Landing in 1978.
  • Mesker Park, on Second Street, honors Frank Mesker, a metalworking businessman. It offers the visitor a quiet place of respite.
  • Throughout the perimeter of Laclede's Landing are several examples of public art including a representation of Missouri tall grass, "Mystic Vessel Ascending," the whimsical "Loud Mouth Bass Band," a piece near the MetroLink station called "Fun Ride," "Lintels from the Levee House" and cast-iron columns from an old riverfront warehouse building. The latest artwork to be added to the collection is "Foot Note," a commemoration of St. Louis' music connections.
  • The Dental Health Theatre, located in the Raeder Building, specializes in entertaining and educational dental health programs and is the only attraction of its kind in the world. The Theatre features a lower dental arch with 16 three-foot tall fiberglass teeth.
  • Visitors can step into 16th century England each weekend at the Royal Dumpe, the oldest continuously running dinner theatre in the country. Guests enjoy dinner with the one and only King and his serving wenches and take part in the zany show with catchy songs and bawdy fun.
  • The Laclede's Landing Wax Museum has more than 180 authentically costumed wax figures of well-known people and is also home to the largest wax figure chamber of horrors in the Midwest.
  • St. Louis Carriage Company offers horse-drawn carriage rides through the cobblestone streets of Laclede's Landing and downtown.
  • Embassy Suites Hotel offers spacious two-room suites, indoor pool, sauna and hot tub.
  • Just south of the Gateway Arch, the Gateway Arch Riverboats, the oldest excursion boat company (established in 1884) in the country, offers one-hour narrated sightseeing cruises, dinner cruises and public and charter cruises on the Tom Sawyer and the Becky Thatcher.
  • North Riverfront Trail Ride, part of a system of bicycle trails in St. Louis, runs along Lenore K. Sullivan from near Laclede's Landing and the Gateway Arch to the Chain of Rocks Bridge in north St. Louis.

WHAT'S NEW: Several new establishments have opened in the Landing recently including the Big Bang, a dueling piano bar featuring a rock & roll sing along, Club Buca and Nonna G's Italian restaurant and the St. Louis Fish Market, a seafood restaurant in the Embassy Suites Hotel.

The Landing will soon get its first housing units with conversion of an existing building near Planet Hollywood into condos.

The top deck of the historic Eads Bridge with a lane open to foot traffic will open in 2003. It will be the only automobile bridge across the Mississippi River with a pedestrian and bike lane linking Missouri and Illinois.

HISTORY: Although it would be a couple of hundred years until it would acquire its name, the area now called Laclede's Landing was part of early St. Louis. French fur trader Pierre Laclede, who founded St. Louis in 1764, actually landed about a half mile south of the Landing at the site of the Old Cathedral. He decided the area, 18 miles south of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers, was a perfect site for construction of his trading center.

Laclede named his fledging village after Louis IX, the Crusader King of France, and predicted his trading post on a bluff high above the Mississippi would one day become "one of the finest cities" on the continent. Laclede did not know that he was building his trading post on Spanish soil, the result of a secret treaty he would learn of later. France regained rights to St. Louis and a large portion of the land west of the Mississippi in 1800 but before taking possession of it, Napoleon sold the parcel to the U. S. in what became known as the Louisiana Purchase.

In those early days, while New England was mainly Protestant, St. Louis and a portion of the Illinois Territory across the Mississippi River were decidedly French and Catholic. However, St. Louis had a diverse population from the beginning with a mixture of French, Spanish, freed and slave Blacks, Creoles and others.

One of the earliest records of a land grant in St. Louis was that of Esther, a free mulatto woman who was given a Spanish land grant to property in the Landing in 1793. Her land is where the Schoelhorn-Albrecht Machine Company buildings now stand.

Jacques Clamorgan, a fur trader, merchant, financier and land speculator who owned land in what is now Laclede's Landing, arrived in St. Louis in the 1780s. Clamorgan, thought to have been of Welsh, Portuguese, Spanish and African heritage, was one of the founders of the Missouri Company started in 1803. The company promoted trade and sent expeditions up the Missouri River to find a route to the Pacific.

Clamorgan lived where the Peper Tobacco Building stands now on First Street. Upon his death, the four children he fathered by Mulatto women received an estate of nearly $1,000 from him and later formed what was part of the 19th century "colored aristocracy of St. Louis."

In 1804 when Lewis and Clark set out to chart the Louisiana Territory, St. Louis was already a small city of 1,000 people and the center of fur trade in America, most of it concentrated around the Riverfront area including the segment known today as Laclede's Landing.

After the first steam boat chugged into St. Louis in 1817 bringing a new era of commerce and travel, the St. Louis riverfront, including the Landing, blossomed into a center of transportation, commerce and manufacturing. At the height of the steamboat era, as many as 100 steamboats lined the levee. In 1849, a major fire, started by an explosion of the steamboat White Cloud on the levee, destroyed much of the riverfront commercial area as well as much of downtown itself. That tragedy brought the ornate cast iron fronts and walls of brick that are found in the Landing today as the buildings were rebuilt to resist future fires.

The construction of the Eads Bridge in 1874 brought another new era to downtown St. Louis-that of the railroad. As railroads took over as the primary method of transportation across the country, steamboat traffic declined, and by the late 1880s, the landing was beginning to decline as well.

As time passed and the mode of goods transportation shifted to trucks and planes, manufacturers found it less of an advantage to be located near the river. Many of the once bustling warehouses were abandoned and the old warehouse district was largely forgotten. Then, in 1935, a idea was put forth to built a memorial on the St. Louis Riverfront to President Thomas Jefferson and his Louisiana Purchase.

As the attention focused on the monument's construction, the three square blocks of the Landing were forgotten. During the late 1960s, a small group of people saw in the Landing area the potential for a district that would not only provide entertainment and restaurants but also commemorate St. Louis' past as a center of river trade and commerce. In 1975 the Laclede's Landing Redevelopment Corp. was formed, a redevelopment plan was adopted and renovation of the buildings was started.

Today, the warehouse district has a new life, and the renovation and redevelopment continues in Laclede's Landing with exciting new venues being added each year.

ARCHITECTURE: Laclede's Landing has a unique historic collection of cast-iron front commercial buildings and ornate brick warehouses that once stored tobacco and cotton from the holds of steamboats. Among them are:

  • Switzer Building, 612-24 N. First Street. Currently under renovation, this five-story brick building with stone trim on the upper floors was built in 1874 for the Excelsior Manufacturing Company which made Charter Oak Stoves. Later, the Switzer Company made their licorice and other products there and until the late 1970s when the operation was moved to another downtown location, the sweet smell of company's product wafted through the Landing.
  • The Christian Peper Buildings, four buildings at 707 N. First Street. The buildings were constructed in phases beginning in 1898 for the Christian Peper Tobacco Company. One of the buildings now houses the headquarters of the Bi-State Development Agency. On the first and second floors are shops, restaurants and an atrium with a great view of the Gateway Arch.
  • First Street Ironworks, 716-720 N. First Street. This former warehouse was the site of the last machine shop in Laclede's Landing. Built in 1890, the building has undergone one of the most historically accurate renovations in the Landing and now houses offices, restaurants and retail shops.
  • Muddy Waters, 724 N. First Street. Built in 1885, this mixed use building has a modern exterior and a 19th century interior.
  • Raeder Place Building, 719-727 N. First Street, a National Historic Landmark. In this six-story, cast iron front building, the First Missouri Legislature met on Sept. 20, 1820. In 1873, Christian Peper bought the building to use for his tobacco company. With a simple Victorian cast iron design and a large amount of window space, the building has a lot of natural light. Following its renovation, the building was renamed to commemorate Frank Raeder, an architect who taught at Washington University. It now houses the Dental Health Theatre, Skeeters Restaurant and the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant which is furnished with unusual antique, parts of old buildings and a real trolley car.
  • Cherrick Building, 800-804 N. First Street. Built in 1894, this building was used as a wholesale warehouse for the distribution of food products. One hundred and one years later, it was renovated and given an addition. It is now a mixed use building.
  • Cutlery Factory, 612 N. Second Street. Built in 1860, this is one of the oldest buildings in the Landing. Originally built as a real estate investment, it was later owned by businessman Henry Shaw, founder of the Missouri Botanical Garden. The building features brick with stone trim on the exterior and heavy timbers and wide arches on the interior. Today it houses a restaurant, a bar and offices.
  • Greeley Building, 618-624 N. Second Street. Grocer Carlos S. Greeley built this five-story building in the 1880s as his office and warehouse. The original cast iron façade which had been encased in concrete during an earlier renovation has been restored to its original appearance.
  • Hoffman Brothers Produce Building, 700 N. Second Street. For decades, from its construction in 1880 to the mid 1930s, this building housed a produce distribution operation. Later it was used by the Ferman Tent Company and the Wamser-Ferman Camping Company. Housing offices and restaurants today, the building has one of the most elaborate brick facades in St. Louis.
  • Witte Building, 707 N. Second Street. Built for the Witte Hardware company in 1905, the company used the building until 1975. After undergoing a historic renovation preserving the original timber and steel, the building features a glass elevator and an atrium.
  • Old Judge Coffee Building, 710 N. Second Street. This pre-Civil War building was built in 1844 as offices and warehouses for the Scharff & Bernheimer Company, a river shipping firm. It was converted into a factory for the Old Judge Coffee Company in 1918. It features cast iron columns on the street level and large windows, also on the street level, which taper to smaller ones on the higher floors.
  • Cast Iron Building, 712-714 N. Second Street. This building was constructed in 1873 making it one of the older buildings in the Landing. It features an attractive cast iron façade.
  • Schoelhorn-Albrecht Building, 721 N. Second Street. This building, also one of the oldest in the Landing, was built for the Schoelhorn-Albrecht Company which manufactured parts for river barges. It is rumored that runaway slaves were hidden in a room under Morgan Street. The land which the building occupies was the site of the first freeing of a Mulatto slave, a woman named Esther, in the 1700s.
  • Levee House, 800 N. Third Street. One of the larger buildings in the Landing, the Levee House was built in 1906 as a commission house and was later the Eagle Boat Store. One of the building's unique features is the use of red mortar between the bricks.
  • Trader's Building, 801-805 N. Second Street. Built in 1850 with low-pitched roofs and double hung windows, the Trader's Building exemplifies the warehouse architecture style popular just prior to the Civil War-simple and large. Ground floor doors are framed with iron to protect the brick from the horse-drawn vehicles when they were loaded with the company's products. In its past, the Trader's Building also served as a whiskey warehouse.
  • Feather Building, 809 N. Second Street. Another pre-Civil War building, the Feather Building was built in 1845. It takes its name from the fact that it was once the home of a feather mattress company. It now houses a restaurant, a bar and offices. Star plates on the side of the building connect to cast iron bars running through the floors. The bars keep the walls from separating from the rest of the building.
  • The Landing Building, 720 N. Third Street. During the 1970s, this building housed "Café Louie," one of the original pubs that opened in the Landing. In fact, the name "Laclede's Landing" was coined here by owner Jimmy Massucci, who was also founder of the former Gaslight Square. At the time, the Landing was a rundown warehouse district, but Massucci had a dream that it could evolve into an entertainment district that would be bigger and better than Gaslight Square.
  • The historic Eads Bridge, constructed in 1874, forms the Landing's southern boundary. Designed in 1867 by self-taught engineer James Eads, it was the first major connector across the Mississippi River at St. Louis and was instrumental in changing the movement of goods into and out of St. Louis from steamboat to railroad. The bridge, the first to use steel extensively in its structure, features graceful arches built 100 feet above the waters of the Mississippi. It originally had two decks-a top deck for carriage and foot traffic across the river and a lower deck used by the railroads. MetroLink now uses the railroad deck for its tracks across the Mississippi River. Renovation of the upper deck which will have vehicular traffic lanes and a pedestrian/bike lane, is expected to be completed in late 2002.

MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC: Laclede's Landing is the place to enjoy music in the downtown St. Louis area. Here are some establishments that offer live entertainment:

  • The Big Bang, 807 N. Second Street, (314) 241-2264, www.thebigbangbar.com.
    Rock & roll sing-along with dueling pianos, daily until 3 a.m.
  • Hannegan's, 719 N. Second Street, (314) 241-8877, www.hannegansrestaurant.com.
    Live music, 6-10 p.m., Saturday.
  • Jake's Steaks, 708 N. Second Street, (314) 621-8184, www.jakessteaks.com.
    A karaoke band is featured on the deck from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday.
  • Morgan Street Brewery, 721 N. Second Street, (314) 231-9970.
    Jazz, 7-10 p.m., Sunday.
  • Skeeters Eatery, 727 N. First St., 241-2220.
    Karaoke on Saturday night.
  • Trainwreck on the Landing, 720 N. First Street, (314) 436-1006, www.trainwrecksaloon.com.
    Live music, 9:30 p.m.-2:30 a.m., Friday and Saturday; 10 p.m.-2 a.m., Sunday.

FESTIVALS AND OTHER EVENTS: Laclede's Landing is the site of the St. Patrick's Day Festival in March; Jazz It Up On The Landing, a free music event every Memorial Day weekend, Cinco de Mayo celebration in May, Fat Tuesday/Mardi Gras events and the Cobblestone Car Show in June. During the Fourth of July weekend, Laclede's Landing is host to the Anheuser-Busch presents Rockin' on the Landing, a series of free rock concerts. Each Labor Day weekend, the Landing is the site of The Big Muddy Blues Festival, one of the country's biggest blues festivals.

DINING: The Landing is filled with dozens of unique restaurants including:

  • Fat Tuesday, a specialty bar known for its appetizers, sandwiches, St. Louis-style pizza and the largest selection of frozen drinks in town.
  • Hannegan's Restaurant & Pub, known for its award-winning food and service. Built as a replica of the Senate dining room.
  • Jake's Steaks serving steaks with Southwestern flavor, barbeque and seafood.
  • Morgan Street Brewery, a microbrewery and restaurant.
  • The Old Spaghetti Factory where moderately-priced pasta dinners are served in a unique setting among antiques and architectural pieces of other buildings.
  • St. Louis Fish Market Restaurant, a fine dining restaurant featuring seafood and sushi.
  • Show Me's on the Landing, a sports bar with an outside patio overlooking the river. The food selection includes wings, oyster and sandwiches.
  • Skeeters Eatery, often described as St. Louis with a Cajun flair. Steaks, seafood, pasta and sandwiches top the menu. The restaurant's 700-gallon aquarium attracts a lot of attention.
  • Trainwreck on the Landing, a multi-level entertainment complex with 24 different beers on tap.
  • Nonna G's, a delightful taste of Italy with warm, Tuscan-style décor.

SHOPPING: A number of shops are located in Laclede's Landing.

NEARBY ATTRACTIONS: Nearby are the Gateway Arch, Gateway Arch Riverboats, the historic Old Courthouse, the Old Cathedral, Busch Stadium, the Edward Jones Dome and America's Center.

PUBLIC RELATIONS CONTACT: Dawne Massey, 314-241-5875, llanding@sbcglobal.net

 

Readers should call 1-800-916-0040 to request a free copy of the Official St. Louis Visitor Guide or point, click and explore St. Louis at www.explorestlouis.com