When you want a fun road trip, check out Affton!  Among the remarkable sites you'll see are the ice cream cone that's as tall as a building in front of Mesnier School on Weber Road! Phil's BBQ on Gravois has a remarkable neon sign crowned by a pig, but dinner is always topped off with dessert - so check out the 2 story high birthday cake with candles (and yes they do flicker) at Federhofer's Bakery on Gravois as well!  Looking for other wonderful places to visit?  Don't forget Grant's Farm and President Grant's St Louis home! With a population of over 20,000, the median income in Affton is $43,327 and the median home value is $97,000.  This community feeds into both the Affton and the Bayless School Districts.  The city of Affton gets it's name, not from it's original founder, but from the first Postmaster of the area, Johann Aff.  Aff ran a general store at the "10 mile house" (the early settlers referred to everything by how many miles it was from the St Louis Courthouse), as well as the Post Office.  The town wasn't actually incorporated however, until 1930, but was then rapidly unincorporated in 1935, because they couldn't meet their financial obligations as a town.  The area, is still referred to however, as Affton and is falls under the jurisdiction of St Louis County.  in 1946, the area came together however, to establish it's own fire protection district and in 1947 to establish a Chamber of Commerce. To look at Affton's earlier history, you need to know that in the 1820's Kenneth MacKenzie, a fur trader from Scotland purchased about 3,000 acres from Gregoire Sarpy .  MacKenzie plantation encompassed all the land between what is now Hazel Avenue to the north, Gravois Road to the south, Laclede Station Road to the west, and River des Peres to the east.  He later divided up his plantation, selling land to Louis Benoist, a banker who built a plantation called "Oakland" on his 485 acres.  His plantation was designed by George Ingham Barnett, an English architect who designed many of the outstanding architectural accomplishments that are still standing today in St Louis - from the water tower on North Grand, the Southern and Lindell Hotels, #7 Vandeventer Place and many of the fine mansions and homes that stand in Lafayette Square.  Sections of the former Benoist plantation can be seen in the Lakewood Park Cemetery and the Oakland Mansion which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (it's currently owned and managed by the Affton Historical Society).  For more on the history of Affton, please check out the Affton Chamber of Commerce's website