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 Henry
Shaw gave the citizens of St. Louis a grand pleasure park,
known as Tower Grove Park, in 1868. The Park is host
to over one million visitors every year, who enjoy softball,
soccer, tennis, corkball, Frisbee, as well as strolling, jogging,
and picknicking who revel in the fanciful Victorian pavilions
and sculptures Shaw commissioned...and in the more than 8,000
trees and shrubs he imported from around the world.
Select from the navigation above to find out more information about one of St. Louis' best loved treasures, but remember--our photos can't begin to capture the sounds of the Compton Heights Band playing in the Music Stand, members of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra playing in The Piper Palm House, or the splashing of the kids in the wading pool, the joys of strolling through crisp Autumn leaves or spotting a new bird to add to your list!
 "In some important particulars connected with its origin and history, Tower Grove Park is different from the other pleasure grounds of the City of St. Louis."
These words, and most of those that follow on this page and the other pages devoted to Tower Grove Park as it was in the Victorian Age (and largely remains) are taken from a report prepared in 1883 -- while Henry Shaw was himself one of the park commissioners -- by David H. MacAdam.
"A park," according to that report, "is not created for the benefit of any particular class, but for the enjoyment of all classes -- for the use of the city population in the aggregate... The rich, the poor, the educated and the illiterate have an equal title to the fair domain of shade and sward, of pleasant walks and landscapes all that is required of any of them being a due regard to the character of the place and the rights of each visitor... and the taxpayer has no pre-emptive right in any of its features over the man who never owned anything to pay taxes upon. Its broad and level drives are made for the costly chariot flashing with silver and polish, and also for the humble wagon with its painted sign indicating its daily use. There are also quiet, shady walks, specially intended for those who can command no vehicle but the street car." (1883)
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