Webster Groves: A History of Our Community

Ten miles southwest of Saint Louis was an area known to Missouri, Osage and Dakota Indians and fur trappers until 1802 as the "Dry Ridge."  In the early 1800's, this region, once a part of the Louisiana Territory, was changing from Spanish to French ownership and a system of land grants was inaugurated to promote immigration.  Remember that during the early period of Spanish rule, officials gave land to settlers as a check against the English.

As part of this program, in 1802 Gregorie Sarpy was granted 6,002 acres by Charles de Hautte Delassus, the last Spanish Lieutenant governor.  The land grant covered the major area now known as Webster Groves.

Webster Groves' location on the Pacific Railroad line led to its development as a suburb.  In the late 19th century, overcrowding, congestion, and unhealthy conditions in Saint Louis prompted urban residents to leave the city for quieter, safer surroundings.  In 1892 the developers of Webster Park, an affluent community which would soon become the City Of Webster Groves, promoted the new community as the "Queen Of The Suburbs," offering residents superb housing options in a country-like atmosphere, as well as a swift commute to downtown Saint Louis jobs.

As a suburban municipality, Webster Groves has its origins as five separate communities along adjacent railroad lines.  Webster, Old Orchard, Webster Park, Tuxedo Park, and Selma merged in 1896 in order to implement public services and develop a unified city government.  Since that time, Webster Groves' tree-lined streets and abundance of single family homes have continued to attract people to the area as a "great place to live, work and play," not solely for the wealthy commuter suburb that early developers envisioned but for families that cut across all socioeconomic boundaries.  The geographic and economic diversity of Webster Groves is evident in the variety of neighborhoods and its successes is rooted in the cooperation and willingness of community members from all walks of life to work together toward common goals.

           Webster Groves - Economic Development

Webster Groves is located in the heart of the St. Louis metropolitan region.  With two interchanges on Interstate 44, easy access to Interstates 64/40, I70, 270, Webster Groves is within a 10-minute drive to downtown St. Louis, Clayton, West County, and a 10-minute drive to Lambert St. Louis International Airport.  In 2006 two light-rail stations are scheduled to begin serving the community.

Known for its tree-lined streets, abundance of single-family homes, walkable neighborhoods, historic business districts, an active Parks and Recreation Department, stable taxes, and "Triple A" rated schools, Webster Groves is considered a premier place to live, work, and raise a family.

Webster Groves is home to the main campus of the international Webster University, and boasts the Loretto-Hilton Theatre, the Opera Theatre St. Louis, the Webster University Theatre, the St. Louis Repertory Theater, the Algonquin Golf Club, seventeen community parks and three bird sanctuaries among its many cultural amenities.

With multiple business districts and industrial parks, Webster Groves offers a variety of options for locating or expanding your business.  The SBC telecommunications facility serving Webster Groves is located in the heart of the City.  Savings for data circuits are realized from lower loop charges.  Business grade state-of-the-art date communications --e.g., DSL and other broadband capacities -- are in place.  Webster Groves is already the home to several corporate offices and research facilities, including Tyco Healthcare, Owen Development, Seiler Instrument, KFNS 590 AM (The Fan), and Crazy Bowls & Wraps.

                                 Webster Groves Churches


Anglican

St. Joseph's Hospital (about 4 miles; Kirkwood, MO)

St. Mary's Health Center (about 4 miles; Richmond Heights, MO)

Forest Park Hospital (about 5 miles; St. Louis, MO)

Lambert St. Louis International Airport (about 11 miles; St. Louis, MO)

Spirit of St. Louis Airport (about 21 miles; St. Louis, MO)

St. Louis Regional Airport (about 31 miles; St. Louis/Alton, IL)

                   Webster Groves Parks & Recreation

There are seventeen parks (120 acres) in the City of Webster Groves.  The Parks Department has a full time staff of seven people and four seasonal employees in the various duties of park maintenance.

                        1.  Blackburn Park                         10.  Glen Park
                        2.  Larson Park                              11.  Lockwood Park
                        3.  Ivory Crockett Park                   12.  Lorraine Davis Park
                        4.  Southwest Park                         13.  Margaret Atalanta Park
                        5.  Deer Creek Park                       14.  McKee Park
                        6.  Gazebo                                     15.  Plant Wildlife Refuge
                        7.  Memorial Park                           16.  Ruhe Park
                        8.  Barbre Park                               17.  Shady Creek Nature Sanctuary
                        9.  Barnichle Park

  Webster Groves Recreation Complex

                                                      
          Fun For Everyone:
          
          Make a Difference Day
          Halloween Window Painting
          Turkey Day Run
          Santa/Peter Cottontail Visits
          Daddy & Daughter Valentine
          Dance   
          Community Days
          Piwacket Children's Theater
          Community Rummage Sale
          Trivia Pursuit Night
          Dog Obedience
          Volkswalk
          Belly Dance
          Fencing
          Martial Arts (Tae Kwon Do, T'ai Chi, Boxing)
          Open Gym/Moonlight Hoops

          Just For Adults:                                 Just For Youth:

          Jewelry (Metal Clay, Glass Fusing)      Special Events (Pumpkin Party, Pajama 
          Film Circle                                                  Party, Paintball, Bunny Bash)
          Stained Glass and Garden Stones        Performing (Magic, Youth Theater,
          Older Adult Activity Center                         Animal Balloons/Face Painting)
          Fitness                                                   Music (Keyboard, Guitar)
          T'ai Chi                                                   Winter & Spring Break Camps
          Martha Rounds (Slimnastics, Pilates)   Safety (Sitter Skills, First Aid)
          Volleyball, Softball                                  Soccer
          Lunch & Bingo                                       Basketball
          Mid-County Muni Trips                           Football

          Webster Groves Ice Arena Programs:

          Public Skating Schedule
          Special Events
          Special Skates (Stick n Puck, Training Sessions, Speed Skating)
          Learn to Skate
          Skating School Advanced Classes
          Broomball
          Team Webster
          Private Lessons
          Youth Hockey
          Speed Skating
          Skate with Santa
          Skate with Peter Cottontail
          Power Skating

          Webster Groves Tennis Programs:

          Tennis Lessons (Tiny Tot, Youth, Adult)
          Special Programs/Clinics
          General Information

                                     Webster Groves Restaurants

                             
                              Amighetti's Bakeries & Cafes          Kentucky Fried Chicken
                              Amis                                                Marnatti's Restaurant
                              Azucarte                                          McDonald's
                              Big Sky Cafe                                   Nachomama's
                              CJ Muggs                                        Natural Fact Deli
                              Cecil Whitakers Pizzeria                  OT Hodges
                              Charcoal House                              Panera Bread Company
                              China Inn                                        Papa John's Pizza
                              Cool Beans Cafe                            Pony Express Cafe
                              Cravings Gourmet Desserts           Rock Hill Chop Suey
                              Cyrano's                                         Ryan's Family Steakhouse
                              Dairy Queen                                   Schlotzsky's Deli
                              Dingho Restaurant                         St. Louis Frozen Custard Ltd
                              Domino's Pizza                               Steak N Shake
                              Einstein Brothers Bagels                Subway Sandwiches & Salads
                              Elicia's E Pizza                                Taco Bell
                              Farotto's Italian Restaurant            Talayna's of Rock Hill
                              First Wok Buffet                              Two Nice Guys Restaurant
                              Grove Deli                                       Weber's Front Row
                              Hacienda Mexican Restaurant         Webster Garden Chinese 
                              Happy Joe's Pizza & Ice Cream        Webster Wok
                              Hardee's                                          Wendy's
                              Hogoboom's Great American Co     Yong China Restaurant
                              Hunan Vu's                                      Yorkshire Sausage & Deli
                              Imo's Pizza                                       Zinnia
                              Jack In The Box

                       Webster Groves Theaters

St. Louis Repertory Theater:

            Old Webster
   
                Share the secret of Old Webster! 
                             Sky, not skylines!      
                      Walkways, not mallways!
                                                                                
Trees and flowers frame the beauty of Old Webster, the friendliest shopping and business community in St. Louis.  It's here that you'll find the very best cookies, handcrafter fine jewelry, and music to set any mood.  Unique gifts can be found at the eclectic collection of shops that line our pleasant streets.  Need that perfect baby gift?  Fresh flowers for your table?  A marvelous book?  All of these treasures and more can be discovered just steps away from your car, where you'll meet the nicest shopkeepers and business owners in the county.

Who said shopping can't be fun?  Catch a great meal at one of our restaurants, talk to an insurance agent, find an architect, schedule a massage, get your shoes repaired, listen to jazz, make your own jewelry, do your banking, add to your garden, get your hair styled, watch the trains go by, buy paint, find new kitchen faucets...

Old Webster is a comfortable, easy place to find the one-of-a kind things that will be special to you for a lifetime.

Historical Charm

What makes Old Webster so charming?  Our merchants are housed in history.  You can buy jewelry in an old firehouse, shop in an old feed store, or find music in what was once a favorite ice cream store.  The land for Old Webster was purchased in 1802, and many of our buildings are reminiscent of a simpler time.  But don't let our setting fool you.  Old Webster offers you the latest accessories, music, cuisine and more.

The Historic Webster Walk series showcases the unique historical and architectural heritage of Webster Groves, Missouri.  With names like Pierre Chouteau, Artemus Bullard and Ulysses S. Grant woven into its past, Webster Groves is an outdoor museum, providing an opportunity for people to walk through 200 years of history.

In 1802, Gregoire Sarpy, a frenchman who married into the Chouteau family, obtaining the rustic wooded land that is now Webster Groves from the Spanish colonial government.  In 1842, the land was divided and Sarpy's son, John, received the north 360 acres, and Pierre Chouteau, Jr. received the south 1640 acres.  The dividing line became Lockwood Avenue.

Through the years, Webster Groves has accumulated a wide variety of architectural styles, as old buildings were preserved and newer structures were built.  In residential areas, many large original lots have been subdivided creating infill housing dating back to the early 1900s.  The result is an interesting mix of homes and businesses, churches and schools that reflects the continuing living history of Webster Groves.

Heart of Webster Walk

This Historic Webster Walk is a 2.3 mile tour through a rich collection of Victorian Architecture.  The walk features the early businesses, homes, and people that formed the foundation of Webster Groves.  (Italianate Home to the right)

Begin your walk in downtown Webster Groves, in front of Webster Records, 117 W. Lockwood Avenue.  Take a moment to look up and down this merchant-lined street, a main thoroughfare of Webster Groves for more than 100 years.

Today, 21st century businesses thrive in 19th century buildings with newer structures tucked in between.  This is the heart of Webster Groves, where businesses first sprang up around the railroad.  Early residents built their homes, churches, and schools surrounding this commercial nucleus.  Nothing better illustrates the close relationship between businesses, homes and the people who built them than the William H. Gore House directly across the street at 132-36 W. Lockwood Avenue.  It is a microcosm of Webster Groves history in itself.

Heart of Webster Walk Site Overview:  68 buildings listed

A Walk In The Park

Inspired by Edward Joy's Old Orchard Park of 1889 to the east and Lilburn McNair's Tuxedo Park of 1890 to the north, a group of prominent Webster Groves businessmen established the Webster Real Estate Company in 1891.  The next year they purchased the Payne Tract, north of Lockwood and west of Bompart.  Several of them had already built large Queen Anne houses on speculation to attract other successful businessmen and their families to Webster Groves. 
(Queen Anne home to the left)

The Webster Real Estate Company laid out 210 large lots:  no commercial buildings could be built within the park and each house had to be at least two stories and cost a minimum of $3,000.

          *1892 three Queen Anne homes built
          * By 1897 only seven homes had been built in the Park
          *1903 nine hole Algonquin Golf Club built
          *1904-1910 forty-six homes built
          *1910-1920 twenty-seven homes built
          *1920's seventy-three homes built

The architecture of Webster Park represents fine examples of a variety of styles.  The oldest houses in the Park are large, elaborate Queen Anne houses.  They are followed by Shingle Style, American Foursquare, Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, Craftsman, and Spanish Colonial Revival houses, many designed by the prominent St. Louis architects of the turn of the century.

The Historic Webster Walk is a 2.7 mile tour through the tree-lined, meandering streets of Webster Park.  The entire walk is paved and covers flat to gently sloping terrain.

Walk In The Park Site Overview:  52 buildings listed

A New Century in Old Orchard 

Old Orchard draws its name from the apple and peach orchards that lined the Indian trail to the Big Bend in the Meramec River in the mid-19th century.  In the spring the blossoms transformed the orchards into fairyland, and in the fall the orchards smelled like cider.

This Historic Webster Walk is a 2.4 mile tour through the commercial, educational and residential areas of Old Orchard.  (Greek Revival Home on the right)

Old Orchard Site Overview:  50 buildings listed

The Ridge at Rock Hill

Long before it was parceled into grand estates and later into subdivisions, the American Indians called the high land rising up above Shady Grove Creek "Dry Ridge."  The ridge ran north and south across the land that John & James Marshall purchased in 1832 and across part of the Sarpy Tract that Pierre Chouteau Jr. subdivided in 1845.  Bare and exposed in the hot sun, the land provided beautiful vistas.

It is no wonder then that some of the first St. Louis businessmen to build homes in the area chose to build along Dry Ridge now called Rock Hill Road.  The Missouri Pacific Railroad opened the area to commuters in 1853 and Bullard's Webster College for Boys opened that same year.

In the later 1880s, retired businessmen living in Webster Groves began to subdivide their estates and build large, frame Queen Anne houses for their children or as speculative ventures to attract other successful businessmen to Webster Groves.  Webster Groves was becoming a suburb.

This Historic Webster Walk is a 2.2 mile walk that will lead you through a wonderfully diverse collection of 19th & 20th century architecture, one of the trademarks of this community.

The Ridge at Rock Hill Site Overview:  33 buildings listed

Steps In Time:  Northwest Webster


Northwest Webster is a window into the history and culture of this community.  Its eclectic neighborhoods represent a convergence of the wealthy and the working class, as well as farmland and the earliest subdivisions.  In many ways the area is a universe of westward expansion.  As Americans moved west, development in this region was fueled by the growth of the railroad in the mid-1850s and the building boon that followed the Civil War.  (Queen Anne Home)

The oldest streets of Northwest Webster are influenced by its topography.  The Rock Hill Military Road was laid out along the top of a ridge running south from Manchester Road to Jefferson Barracks.  Kirkham Avenue, originally called Shady Avenue, follows Shady Creek, along the base of a steep hill, Gore Avenue, once called Church Street, was originally a path that early settlers blazed as a short cut to Rock Hill Presbyterian Church.

In the 1880s a housing boom began in earnest in Webster Groves.  Frame Queen Anne houses for commuters were built throughout the community.  In Northwest Webster smaller Victorian vernacular houses were constructed between the larger homes.  Most families did a little farming, raising fruit, vegetables and chickens.

The city incorporated in 1896, and the Kirkwood Ferguson Streetcar Line was built along Kirkham Avenue and Shady Creek to Glendale and Kirkwood.  It became a popular commuter route to the 1904 World's Fair and Washington University.

This Historic Webster Walk is a 2.2 mile tour that traces some of the key events and sites that defined early Webster Groves and continue to influence the community today.

Northwest Webster Site Overview:  37 buildings listed

Webster Groves History Quiz


1.  What year was Webster Groves incorporated?
               1873
               1897
               1915
               1921

2.  What year was the Hawken House built?
               1837
               1843
               1857
               1866

3.  For what was Christopher Hawken, owner of the Hawken House, famous?
               Civil War Hero
               Beer Brewer
               Real Estate Developer
               Inventor of a Gun

4.  What year did the Hawken House open as a museum?
               1965
               1971
               1975
               1982

5.  What was the advertising slogan used to promote the development of Webster
     Groves back in the late 1800s?
               City of Century Homes
               A Quality Place to Live
               Queen of the Suburbs
               A Gentlemen's Neighborhood

6.  What year was the Webster Groves Historical Society formed?
               1937
               1953
               1965
               1971

7.  What year was the first Century Home designated?
               1965
               1967
               1973
               1979

Answers to the Webster Groves History Quiz