Origins

Origins. Cherokee-Lemp Historic District. Before construction of Interstate 55 and of some of the large industries along the river, DeMenil Place offered an expansive view of the Mississippi River., The Mississippi was the original interstate of the Midwest, cutting through otherwise impenetrable forests and foreboding prairies. Through New Orleans, it connected a fur trading post named St. Louis to the rest of the world. In 1767, three years after St. Louis was founded where the Gateway Arch now stands. Frenchman Clement De Lor de Treget established the farming village of Carondelet on the banks of the Mississippi. Carondelet was only five miles south of St. Louis, yet the only way to travel between the villages was by the Mississippi., Eventually "The Road To Carondelet" tied the communities together. Later that road came to be called Carondelet Avenue, and at the turn of the 20th century, it was officially renamed South Broadway., It was still known as Carondelet Avenue, however, when a line of the horse railway opened along it in 1864. The line carried commuters from the north end of the City south to Keokuk Street, with stops at the terminus of Cherokee Street. The horse railway and the relocation of the growing Lemp Brewery to Carondelet and Cherokee, spurred the development of Cherokee as a branch street radiating from Carondelet Road.