In 1824 President James Monroe approved an act of Congress granting the Marquis de Lafayette a township of land in any of the United States’ public domains as recognition for his services in the American Revolutionary War. Lafayette decided on land in the territory of Florida, and was granted thirty-six square miles (23,040 acres) in what is now Leon County. Lafayette Park is located toward the southwestern corner of that land grant (the very southwestern corner of the Lafayette Land Grant is the Tallahassee Meridian from which most Florida land surveys are denoted, and which is located in Cascades Park).
While Lafayette did convince a colony of French to settle in his land grant, the settlement, situated on Lake Lafayette, failed with most of the settlers returning to France or decamping to New Orleans. Lafayette himself never set foot on the grant, having sold 17,120 acres just months before he died on May 20, 1834. Ownership of his remaining six and three quarters sections of land was transferred to his heirs who lived in France. By 1855, the Lafayette family had sold all of the land.
Around 1900, the southern half of section 30 (the Lafayette Park Neighborhood) was cut into several large tracts. Seventy acres located in the southeast half of the southwest quarter section belonged to Letitia Beard, the granddaughter of Robert Howard Gamble, one of Leon County’s largest land owners. Another owner in the southwest quarter section was Decater Anderson, whose ancestors were the Harberts who were early residents of this area. Streets within the Lafayette Park Neighborhood have been named after the Beards and Harberts.
Between 1911 and 1940 several local businessmen tried their hand at land speculation in what was to become the Lafayette Park Neighborhood. By 1940 they transformed several parcels into thirteen subdivisions. The Eastview Addition triangular in shape was platted in 1911 as the first recorded subdivision in Lafayette Park but its development did not start until about 1925. This area was bordered by Miccosukee Road, North Meridian Street which was originally named Jackson Street and this subdivision now includes parts of East Georgia Street, East Carolina Street and Cherry Street. Twelve more subdivisions were platted between 1914and 1940 from the pastures and farmlands that now form the Lafayette Park Neighborhood consisting of over 500 residential structures.
On May 4, 1932, the City of Tallahassee purchased approximately 22 acres of the Meridian Heights subdivision from the Tallahassee Realty Company to develop into a park. The development of the park became the Tallahassee Garden Club’s first priority and the members wanted to name it Botanical Gardens. In 1934 the Tallahassee Historical Society interceded and requested that this area be named in the memory of the Marquis de Lafayette. Today, Lafayette Park is the centerpiece of the Lafayette Park Neighborhood and has played a major role in Tallahassee’s community activities. The Lafayette Park Community Center was constructed in 1957 and on November 2, 2006 was renamed the Sue Herndon McCollum Community Center. Mrs. McCollum served as the Center’s first Assistant Director and then Director from 1960-1967.