It was kick-started in the aftermath of the city's 1959 tornado outbreak, which caused severe property damage but also led to an influx of attention and insurance money.

Business owners took advantage of this to revitalize the local economy: Jimmy Massuci, Jay Landesman, and brothers Dick and Paul Mutrux in particular were credited with instigating development.

Massuci opened several night spots in the district, Landesman chose it as the new home for his Crystal Palace cabaret theater, and the Mutrux brothers owned the Gaslight Bar.

[1][3][4][5] A 1962 episode of the American TV drama Route 66 titled "Hey Moth, Come Eat the Flame" was set and filmed inside The Darkside jazz club.

Gaslight Square was the location of the studios of KDNA, an early community radio station with a countercultural ethos which played music, poetry and spoken word, interviewed musicians, poets, and artists, and ran anti-war and leftist political content.

[3] Early business owners in Gaslight Square repurposed items salvaged from recently demolished properties in downtown St. Louis such as church pews, chandeliers, stained glass, and marble bathtubs.

Comedians and entertainers included Jerry Stiller, Jackie Mason, the Smothers Brothers, Lenny Bruce, Dick Gregory, Nichols and May, Irwin Corey, Woody Allen, Phyllis Diller, and Jack E. Leonard.

[13][15][16] There is a small memorial at the intersection of Olive and Boyle, featuring some decorative columns like those that used to be on the street and a wall with a stone plaque with names of people and establishments from Gaslight Square's past, topped with a few sections of modest cornices of former buildings from the district.

[citation needed] Some of the significant architectural elements from Gaslight Square were preserved by the National Building Arts Center in the Metro East area of Greater St.