Tower Grove East is a

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an Independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Miss ...

. The Tower Grove East neighborhood is bordered by Shenandoah Avenue to the north, Nebraska Avenue to the east, Gravois Avenue to the south, and south Grand Boulevard to the west. The neighborhood is so named because it partially borders (across Grand Boulevard) the east entrance of

Tower Grove Park Tower Grove Park is a municipal park in St. Louis, Missouri. Located on the south side of the city, the elongated park extends from Kingshighway Boulevard east to Grand Boulevard. The park’s predominately residential surroundings include th ...

. The land of Tower Grove Park was deeded to the city in 1868 as a gift by Henry Shaw, the owner of much of the surrounding land, including what is now the

Missouri Botanical Gardens The Missouri Botanical Garden is a botanical garden located at 4344 Shaw Boulevard in St. Louis, Missouri. It is also known informally as Shaw's Garden for founder and philanthropist Henry Shaw. Its herbarium, with more than 6.6 million s ...

. The park also lends its name to the near neighborhood of Tower Grove South. Tower Grove Park lends much culture and activity to the neighborhood, with its annual festivals, farmers' markets, and activities. The neighborhood also includes many businesses on South Grand Avenue, a popular area of restaurants, nightlife, and shopping. Within the neighborhood itself are many restaurants, a community garden, churches, schools, and the Stray Dog Theatre.

History

The owners and builders in the early days of Tower Grove East were, for the most part, siblings, cousins, and extended family members of the prominent

German Americans German Americans (, ) are Americans who have full or partial German ancestry. According to the United States Census Bureau's figures from 2022, German Americans make up roughly 41 million people in the US, which is approximately 12% of the pop ...

living in

Compton Heights Compton Heights is a neighborhood of St. Louis, Missouri. It is bordered by Interstate 44 Interstate 44 (I-44) is an Interstate Highway in the central United States. Although it is nominally an east–west road as it is even-numbered ...

. Thus, architectural trends originating in Compton Heights and Flora Place influenced the designs of homes on South Compton, Shenandoah, and several other residential avenues. Like Tower Grove Heights, these residences were built on the four-square plan. The typical house is a pyramid or

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other vertical sides ...

on a two-story cube. Often, a pressed brick or

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

course separates the stories. The original developers then varied the theme through detailed choices. Attention was focused on the entry,

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

, and windows. Buyers would often choose the architectural elements from pattern books that illustrated multiple styles of windows, doors, stairways, and

fireplace mantel The fireplace mantel or mantelpiece, also known as a chimneypiece, originated in medieval times as a hood that projected over a fire grate to catch the smoke. The term has evolved to include the decorative framework around the fireplace, and ...

s. The often austere exterior facades typically hide a wealth of richly designed entries with carved

fretwork Fretwork is an interlaced decorative design that is either carved in low relief on a solid background, or cut out with a fretsaw, coping saw, jigsaw or scroll saw. Most fretwork patterns are geometric in design. The materials most commonly u ...

; built-in hall benches, mirrors, and bookcases; wood paneling;

stained-glass windows Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

; and elaborate staircases.

Demographics

In 2020, Tower Grove East's racial makeup was 55.6% White, 28.9% Black, 5.0% Asian, 5.3% Latino or Hispanic, 8.2% Mixed Race, and 0.1% Native American.

Education

: Tower Grove East is home to a number of schools:''TGE: Schools
'' * Fanning Middle School * McKinley Classical Junior Academy * Eagle College Prep * Roosevelt High School * Shenandoah Elementary School * South City Open Studio and Gallery for Children

References

External links

Tower Grove East
neighborhood website
South Grand Community Improvement District
South Grand business district information
Grand South Grand
South Grand business district information {{Stl neighborhoods Neighborhoods in St. Louis

History

Demographics

Education

See also

References

External links