The Gate District Neighborhood is located just south of Downtown St Louis. The boundaries of the neighborhood are Chouteau Avenue to the north, Jefferson Avenue to the east, Interstate 44 to the south and Grand Blvd to the west. Surrounding neighborhoods are the Midtown Neighborhood to the north, Lafayette Square to the east, the Fox Park and Compton Heights neighborhoods to the south and the Tiffany Neighborhood to the west.
An interesting piece of St. Louis history can be found right on LaSalle Street in The Gate District Neighborhood. For over 80 years, the Saint Louis Floral Market, or what is sometimes referred to as "Florist Row" or "The Market," has been providing the St. Louis area with all varieties of fresh flowers. If it has to do with the "green industry", Florist Row will have it. One local florist, the Walter Knoll Florist, has its company's main offices on LaSalle. The Knoll family began their florist business in 1883 with a greenhouse and nursery and often sold flowers from their horse drawn wagon.
The Gate District Neighborhood has four of St. Louis City's 111 parks. Those parks are the Buder Playground, Eads Square Park, Tambo Park and Terry Park. The residents of the neighborhood enjoy the amenities these parks provide such as over 11 acres of parkland, playgrounds, basketball courts and multi-purpose fields.
The St. Louis Public Library system has 15 branch libraries located throughout the City of St. Louis. The Barr Library Branch is one of them and is located in The Gate District Neighborhood.
The local school district for the neighborhood is the St. Louis Public School District. Several of the district's schools are located within the boundaries of the neighborhood. One of them is the Hodgen Elementary School located on California. Another one is the International Welcome School which is an elementary, middle and high school located on South Grand. This unique school provides immigrant students with accelerated English language training, US culture exposure, education expectations and monitoring by school personnel for progress before they are placed in a regular classroom. Other district schools are located in the McKinley Heights Neighborhood. Those schools are the McKinley Classical Leadership Academy and the McKinley Classical Junior Academy, both Magnet Schools located on Russell Blvd, and the Sigel Elementary School located on Allen Avenue. The St. Louis Christian Academy, a private elementary and middle school, is found on Lafayette in The Gate District Neighborhood.
Historic "Florist Row" on LaSalle Street Historic "Florist Row"
The Historic "Florist Row" on LaSalle Street The Historic "Florist Row"