[Block 77B]

This land was owned by Marie Philippe Leduc (in this case Marie was the first name of a man), who had as yet built no structures on it. Many St. Louisans invested in real estate to the west of the town. As the town grew they made money by reselling the land at a much higher price. Leduc was born in St. Denis parish, Paris, France in 1772. Leduc traveled with his mother and two brothers to Louisiana after the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789. By 1796 he had been hired as the private secretary of Charles Dehault Delassus in New Madrid (see Block 6). When Delassus was appointed lieutenant governor in 1799, Leduc moved with him to St. Louis and became the Secretary of the Province. On August 30, 1802 Leduc married Marguerite, the eldest daughter of Joseph Papin (see Block 32). Leduc had a sad life; his wife died after less than six years of marriage in 1808. Two sons died as infants, and his only surviving child, a daughter named Zoe, died at age 16 in 1823. Leduc did not remarry. After the American occupation of St. Louis, Leduc continued to hold various government positions, including recorder, alderman, justice of the peace, notary, clerk of the circuit and county courts, judge of the probate court, and member of the legislature. Marie Leduc died at Cote Brilliante, Missouri in 1842.