Exciting Events and Activities in St. Louis
Ladue Turns 90 On December 1. The Birthday Party Is At City Hall Two Days Later.
Exciting Events and Activities in St. Louis
PALM Health operates at 9160 Clayton Road. Older residents may know the address by an earlier name. The Missouri Historical Society keeps a 1961 photograph of Busch's Grove at the same address, its sign reading "Since 1890." According to the City of Ladue's own newsletter, the corner of Price and Clayton was home to a post office before Ladue was a city or even a village.
Ladue turns 90 on December 1, and the city is celebrating at City Hall, 9345 Clayton Road on the following Thursday. City Hall sits on Clayton Road, which also has the old Busch's Grove site, the Schnucks at Lindbergh and the shops the mayor keeps asking people to support. That fits. Ladue has carried its history along this road for most of two centuries, and in its 90th year the city is still putting its money and effort into the same corridor.
The city historian's account lists the order in which Ladue's main roads were laid out:
Price Road came in 1859, when Isaac J. Price surveyed it and laid it out. The Price Post Office took his name. The city's Fall 2026 newsletter says the area had two post offices before any village existed. The Price Post Office stood where PALM Health is now. The Dwyer Post Office stood at what is now Lindbergh and Clayton, where Schnucks operates today. Mail first came by postal stagecoach and later by train.
Both post offices were on Clayton Road. The places that handled the area's mail before it had a government are now a grocery store and a wellness center, and residents probably pass both every week.
Cars brought the next change. As roads improved, the area shifted from farms to homes. In the late 1920s, residents formed three villages to keep law and order: McKnight, Ladue and Deer Creek. The three shared Ladue's fire department, but each had its own police, zoning and ordinances.
On December 1, 1936, voters in all three villages approved a merger into a fourth-class city. It took the name of the largest village. Dwyer Village joined soon after. T.T. Dwyer had established it in 1869, and its name survives in the Dwyer Post Office story above.
The new city's agreement with planner Harland Bartholomew is dated June 30, 1937. Under it, he presented a preliminary comprehensive plan to the Ladue City Council that described "Rolling topography…Spacious character…Winding streams and gentle sloping highlands…Country-like character." The plan included a line the city still quotes on its history page: "It should be recognized that cities are judged more by their character or quality than by their size."
Golf was part of that character from the beginning. The Log Cabin Club opened in 1899, the Bogey Club in 1910, the St. Louis Country Club in 1914 and Old Warson Country Club in 1955. The city's history says those clubs drew families to buy farmland nearby and build Colonial and Tudor homes with plenty of green space.
Busch's Grove shows how one Clayton Road property has changed with each generation. Here is the timeline for 9160 Clayton Road, drawn from the Missouri Historical Society record, Lost Tables, St. Louis Style and PALM Health's own listing:
| Years | What operated at 9160 Clayton Road |
|---|---|
| 1890 to 2003 | Busch's Grove. The sign said "Since 1890," and John Busch took over the existing Woodlawn Grove in 1891 |
| 2005 to 2008 | A largely rebuilt New Busch's Grove, open for dinner November 22, 2005, until May 24, 2008 |
| 2008 to 2011 | The Market at Busch's Grove, open from early December 2008 until January 8, 2011 |
| Today | PALM Health |
The original restaurant closed on Valentine's Day 2003, as the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Lost Tables both recorded. Ladue News describes PALM Health's building as the former Busch's Grove. The restaurant's run of more than a century covers almost the entire life of the city. When the three villages voted to merge in 1936, Busch's Grove had already been operating for over 40 years.
Much of this history has a physical record. At a September 2025 meeting of Ladue's subdivision and lane trustees, longtime city archivist and historian Charlie Hiemenz showed items from the city's collection, several of which had never been displayed before. The Winter/Spring 2026 newsletter lists them:
The newsletter said items from the collection would be shown in and around City Hall during the anniversary year. It also asked residents with Ladue memorabilia to consider donating it so the items are preserved for future generations.
The sample ballot may be the most direct link to the anniversary. It is dated the same day the three villages voted to become one city, exactly 90 years before the birthday on December 1.
The city's October 14 report to the council describes the event as "Hot Chocolate, Cookies & Conversation," on Thursday, December 3, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., part of the city's ongoing 90th anniversary celebration. The plans include hot chocolate, cookies, items from the city archives and activities for children.
In the Fall 2026 newsletter, Mayor Nancy Spewak calls it Ladue's 90th birthday celebration and adds cake to the menu. She invites residents to "share your memories along with your hopes for the future" and writes, "Everyone is welcome!" The event is at City Hall, 9345 Clayton Road, and it starts late enough in the afternoon for families to come after school pickup.
Two days later, the city has another event on its calendar. The same council report lists a "Fill the Fleet" toy drive during the annual Ladue Holiday Walk. Ladue police, fire and other city vehicles will collect new, unwrapped toys for Toys for Tots, and the Ladue Youth Council will hand out free hot chocolate to donors. The report gives the date as Saturday, December 5, from 9:00 a.m. to noon, and marks it tentative. The city plans to post final details on its website, in its newsletter and on social media.
For reference, St. Louis Mom's 2025 holiday guide listed last year's walk on December 6 from noon to 3 p.m. at 9800 Clayton Road, with Santa, Frosty, carolers, merchant discounts, treats and giveaways. The 2025 walk was on Clayton Road, the same road where the area's first post offices stood.
Ladue's 90th-year projects are also on Clayton Road. In her fall letter, Mayor Spewak lists new sidewalks along Clayton Road from Lay Road to Stone Hall Cabinetry, just east of Price Road. She writes that the city has installed 6.85 miles of new concrete sidewalk since adopting its Citywide Sidewalk Implementation Plan in 2012. Her winter letter also mentions plans to seek initial funding for sidewalks on the north side of Ladue Road between Price and Dielman.
The Deer Creek Preserve trail, which the mayor's winter letter describes as walkable even in winter, is getting a shared-use path extension. According to the fall newsletter, the extension will connect neighborhoods south of I-64/40 to the trail and then to the business district. Engineering design is in its final stage, and construction is scheduled for 2027. In the Clayton Road Business District, Ameren has started a reliability project, and the mayor wrote that its first phase was expected to finish by the end of October, ahead of holiday shopping.
All of this connects to the 1937 Bartholomew quote about character over size. Ladue's 1936 vote made it a city, and nine decades later the city is still working on the road that predates it, mostly so residents can walk to the shops along it. The birthday party at City Hall and the new sidewalks are both on Clayton Road, and they arrive within a few weeks of each other.
If your home has its own Ladue history, such as an old survey, a village-era deed or a photo of the street before the sidewalks, we'd love to see it. At Svoboda Shell, we treat a home's story as part of how it's presented, and Ladue has 90 years of stories to work with. Start your next chapter with Svoboda Shell.