Grantwood Village, Missouri

Grantwood Village is a town in south St. Louis County, Missouri, about 10 miles southwest of downtown St. Louis. It had a population of 863 at the 2010 census.

The town takes its name from "Grant's Farm," the property once owned by Civil War general and later U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant.

History[edit]

The first significant estate in the area was "White Haven," purchased by Colonel Frederick Dent in 1821 and used to host local U.S. Army officers regularly. Dent's daughter Julia married one such officer, Ulysses S. Grant, in 1848. After Grant resigned from the Army in 1854 to settle permanently in the St. Louis region with his growing family, Colonel Dent gave him a parcel of land to farm not far from White Haven, north of what is now Pardee Road. Grant, who proved unsuccessful as a farmer, dubbed his new farm "Hardscrabble," and scratched out a living there until 1859, when he sold out and moved his family to St. Louis and then to Illinois. Owing to Grant's later military and political success, he and they never returned to Hardscrabble, but the fame it gained on account of his one-time association with it remained.^[1] Later, the farm was owned by the famous Busch brewing family of St. Louis.^[2]

By the 1930s, suburban development of the area was accelerating, with a residential neighborhood taking shape adjacent to "Grant's Farm," as it was now regularly called. In 1937, local residents decided to incorporate as a town, taking their name from the famous American who had once lived there, and including the farm itself and some of the adjacent ground within the community's boundaries.^[3] It grew steadily through the 1970s, but has since largely stagnated, characterized now by a large number of semi-wealthy retirees and by continued tourist traffic to its namesake farm.

Geography[edit]

Grantwood Village lies along the north side of Missouri State Highway 30 (locally known as Gravois Road) in St. Louis County. It is located between the cities of Crestwood to the west and Lakeshire to the southeast, and the village of Marlborough to the north. Its official coordinates are 38°33′18″N 90°20′56″W.

The city is drained by Gravois Creek, a small tributary of the Mississippi River, forming a narrow central valley along which "Grant's Farm" and the rest of the current historic site lies. Grantwood Village has a total area of 0.83 square miles, and an average elevation of 512 feet.^[4]

Demographics[edit]

At the 2010 census, Grantwood Village had a total of 863 inhabitants, grouped into 340 households, with a population density of 1,043.5 people per square mile. This figure represented a slight decrease from the 2000 census, when Grantwood Village had a population of 883. 98.96% of the inhabitants were White, 0.58% were African-American, 0.23% were Asian, and 0.23% were from two or more races. Hispanics of any race were 0.81% of the population.

The median age in Grantwood Village was 50.5 years, with 23.1% of inhabitants under the age of 18, 4.4% between 18 and 24 years old, 13.9% between 25 and 44, 35.2% between 45 and 64, and 23.4% 65 years old or older. The sex ratio was 48.1% male, 51.9% female.^[5]

According to the 2018 American Community Survey, Grantwood Village had a median household income of $124,375, and a median family income of $139,583. The unemployment rate was 4.2%. The per capita income was $49,126. About 5.0% of the population lived below the poverty line, including 3.3% of those under the age of 18 and 6.7% of those 65 years of age or older.^[6]

Education[edit]

Grantwood Village is part of the Lindbergh School District. Younger school-age students attend the nearby Long Elementary School, while those in grades 9-12 go to Lindbergh High School in the Sappington community.

Points of Interest[edit]

The two main attractions in Grantwood Village are Grant's Farm, on which the "Hardscrabble" family dwelling still stands, and the adjoining White Haven property, now the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site. Grant's Farm, still in the hands of the Busch family, has been open to the public since 1954, and is equally famous now as an animal reserve; visitors can take a tour in which they interact with buffalo, camels, donkeys, elephants, goats, kangaroos, and others, as well as the famous Budweiser Clydesdales, who are housed on the farm.^[7] The White Haven estate, which has been managed by the National Park Service since 1989, provides visitors with a variety of exhibits on the life and career of Grant.^[8]

References[edit]