The Lafayette Park Conservancy is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation organized under the Missouri Nonprofit Corporation Act to advocate and support the restoration and improvement of Lafayette Park and to raise funds for those purposes. Its mission closely resembles that of the original Board of Improvement. The Lafayette Park Master Plan, created in 2004, designates the Conservancy as the primary body for raising the private funds, grants and donations that will be needed to implement the Master Plan’s ambitious goals.
Working in partnership with the City of St. Louis Parks Department and the Lafayette Square Restoration Committee, the Conservancy develops specific proposals for the projects outlined in the Master Plan, allocates and raises funds for those proposals, and manages or coordinates their implementation. The Master Plan also charges the Conservancy to continue to develop its outstanding commitment to and program of volunteer-maintained gardens.”
The Conservancy is working to continue building regional awareness and support for Lafayette Park throughout the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area and beyond, and to recruit members, volunteers and donors in support of its mission. The many thousands who visit Lafayette Park each year attest to its uncommon beauty and historical significance as Lafayette Square’s Victorian centerpiece. Visitors come from Missouri and Illinois as well as across the nation and around the world.
Current Membership
Members
Board of Directors, 2017
President: Wardwell Buckner
First Vice President: Andrew Hahn
Secretary: Carolyn Willmore
Treasurer: Lawrence Dodd
Directors: Thomas Dahms, Susan Pinker-Dodd, Robert Forrest, George Grove, Jr., Thomas Keay, Hannah Krigman, Susan Linhardt, Elisabath Odell, Paul Sauer
Advisory Board: Bob Bischhoff, Melanie Fathman, Mark Kalk, Kathy Marks-Petetit
Meetings
Membership: The entire membership meets annually on the November Sunday closest to November 12, for the purpose of electing directors and acting on such other business as may come before the membership body. Directors are elected to two-year terms. Eight board members are elected one year, and the other seven the following year.
Board: The board of directors elects officers and conducts the ongoing business of the organization. Board meetings are open to the public, and are held at 7:00 p.m. on the fourth Tuesday of each month, except as otherwise noted in the Events calendar. Meetings are held in the Park House at 7:00 p.m.