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Shaw Information
A convenient and viable neighborhood on the near South Side is the Shaw area,
bounded on the east by Grand Boulevard, on the south by Arsenal Street, west by
Kingshighway and on the north by Chouteau and Manchester Avenues. The land
slopes gradually westward from the ridge line along Grand Boulevard toward
Kingshighway, with a level topography.
The earliest school in the Shaw area was established by Henry Shaw about 1870 in
a two story, four room building at Old Manchester Road and Kingshighway. When
that area became a part of the City in 1876, this school was integrated into the
City public school system. In 1881, it was reported to have a capacity of 240
students, and was known as the Shaw School. Next school to be opened was Adams,
at what was called the Taylorwyck Station of the Pacific Railroad in 1878. Three
years later, it was said to be a one story and one room building with 60 seats.
At present, the John Adams School is located at 1311 Tower Grove Avenue, were
additions were made to the original building in 1895, 1899 and 1906.
In 1898, the William T. Sherman School was completed in the Tyler Place section
at 3942 Flad Avenue, one of the earliest schools designed by William B. Ittner.
There are three branches of the Sherman School in the area, number one is in the
former B'Nai El Temple at Spring and Flad, while the others are located at the
Tower Grove Baptist and Compton Heights Christian Churches. The Bryan Mullanphy
school, named for the well-known St. Louis philanthropist, was designed by
Ittner and completed in 1914. In the area west of Shaw's Garden, the Festus J.
Wade School, named for the St. Louis banker, was opened in 1929. It was designed
by Robert M. Milligan.
In the Tyler Place area, all of the housing, with the possible exception of Shaw
Place, has been built since the 1890's. Most of it was erected between 1900 and
1925, in a mixture of single and multiple family dwellings. Single family houses
are found along Flora Place and off of Magnolia Avenue, elsewhere flats
predominate. Both Flora Place and nearby Compton Heights contain some of the
finest homes to be seen in this vicinity. East of Grand on Russell, at
Louisiana, is the Stockstrom house, a large residence in the German Renaissance
style. It was built in 1909 for a local stove manufacturer, from designs by
architect Ernst Jansen.
A block-wide swath of housing from Grand to Vandeventer, across the Shaw area,
was demolished to make way for Interstate Highway 44. West of Shaw's Garden to
Kingshighway, most of the housing was constructed in the 1920's. Single family
units are concentrated in the southwestern corner near Magnolia Avenue. The
balance of the area is largely flats or apartments, with some single family
dwellings near Alfred and Shawl Northwest of Vandeventer Avenue are the old
McRee City and Gibson Heights areas, where most of the housing was built before
1900. In the western portion of this area, where single and two family dwellings
predominate, they are of 1910-20 vintage. North of I-44, west of Grand, the
housing is older and primarily multiple-family in character. This area has
experienced a decline and considerable demolition since 1960.