In the summer of 1931, Ladue's police department had five officers and no building. The force got its start in the parking lot of the St. Louis Country Club, and a resident who needed an officer phoned the Club. The City of Ladue didn't exist yet, and it wouldn't for another five years.
On December 1, 1936, residents of three villages voted to merge into a fourth-class city, and they named it for the largest of the three. This December's 90th birthday celebrates that vote. By then, most of what now shapes the Clayton Road corridor was already in place: the roads, a police force, a fire department and the city's oldest storefront. The birthday marks the day all of it got one name, and many of the older pieces can still be traced along Clayton Road.
Three Villages That Already Shared a Fire Department
The three villages, McKnight, Ladue and Deer Creek, were all set up in the late 1920s. That was the period when cars had made it practical to live out here, and the farm district was turning into a residential area. Even before they merged, the three already shared Ladue's fire department. Each one kept its own police, its own zoning and its own ordinances.
So the 1936 merger mostly put on paper an arrangement that was already working. The police force, founded in July 1931, served two of the villages, Ladue and Deer Creek. After incorporation, the department moved into City Hall on Clayton Road, and the two buildings still adjoin today.
Ladue News quoted city council president Charles Hiemenz on the reason for merging. Clayton was growing quickly next door, and the villages agreed that combining operations would help them keep the country-like setting their residents valued. A fourth village joined soon afterward. Dwyer Village, founded in 1869 by T.T. Dwyer, became part of the new city "a short time later," according to the City of Ladue's history page.
The planner came next. The city's history says Harland Bartholomew presented a preliminary comprehensive plan to the City Council under an agreement dated June 30, 1937. The same history credits Bartholomew with the line "It should be recognized that cities are judged more by their character or quality than by their size."
The Roads Came First, by Decades
All of Ladue's main roads were in place long before the city. The City of Ladue's history page gives them in this order:
- Clayton Road, 1830. This was the first public road in what is now Ladue.
- McKnight Road, 1853.
- Warson and Lay roads, 1856.
- Price Road, 1859. Isaac J. Price surveyed it and laid it out, according to the city's Fall 2026 newsletter.
- Ladue Road, 1860. It's named for Peter Albert LaDue, a St. Louis lawyer and banker. His farm sat at the corner of today's Ladue and Warson roads and ran east, covering land now occupied by the St. Louis Country Club and the homes around it.
The newest of these roads is 76 years older than the city.
Clayton Road, Address by Address
Clayton Road shows the pre-city layout most clearly. Before Ladue was a city or even a village, two post offices served the area. One stood at Price and Clayton roads, and the other at what is now Lindbergh and Clayton. The Dwyer Post Office sat beside the Dwyer Station train stop and belonged to Dwyer Annex. Along with the post office, the Annex held a general store, a blacksmith shop, a grocery, a dry goods and hardware store, and a saloon. In other words, the busiest corner in Ladue today was a commercial hub before the city existed.
Here's what stands at those points now:
| Clayton Road location | Before 1936 | Today |
|---|---|---|
| Price and Clayton roads | Price Post Office | Palm Health |
| Lindbergh and Clayton roads | Dwyer Post Office and Dwyer Annex | Schnucks |
| 9155 Clayton Road | Meyer's Market, built in 1928 | Stone Hall Cabinetry showroom |
| City Hall on Clayton Road | Not yet built; police based at the St. Louis Country Club lot | City Hall with the police department next door |
| 9901 Clayton Road, just west of Dwyer Place | Clayton Road, the area's first public road since 1830 | New pedestrian-activated HAWK crossing |
Mail service at both post offices ended in the early 1900s, when Rural Free Delivery took over. Early Ladue homes had no street addresses, so carriers delivered mail by the addressee's name. Mailboxes first went up along Clayton Road after November 3, 1901.
The 9155 Clayton Road address has the longest unbroken story on the list. Charles and Minnie Meyer built Meyer's Market in 1928. The family enlarged it in 1955 and renamed it Ladue Market. In 1985 the St. Louis County Historic Building Commission recognized the Tudor Revival building for "excellent continuing use," according to Ladue News. After nearly 91 years in business, Ladue Market announced it would close, Ladue News reported. Stone Hall Cabinetry, a company Rebekah Moore Murphy founded in 2020, later opened a showroom in the former market building, according to Ladue News.
The 1928 building still serves as a landmark in 2026. In her letter in the city's Fall 2026 newsletter, Mayor Nancy Spewak describes the new Clayton Road sidewalks as running "from Lay to Stone Hall Cabinetry, just east of Price Road." The same letter says Ladue has installed 6.85 miles of new concrete sidewalk since adopting its Citywide Sidewalk Implementation Plan in 2012. As of the city's October 1 public works update, this phase of sidewalk work was expected to finish in November.
At the other end of the corridor, the HAWK crossing at 9901 Clayton Road went into construction on August 26, 2026. The October 1 update said the signal components and ADA ramps were installed or in progress, and pavement markings were the remaining step before the crossing could operate. The crossing sits at the existing crosswalk immediately west of Dwyer Place, with a push button on both sides of the road.
What Didn't Make It to 90
Not every pre-city building survived. Price School grew out of a one-room schoolhouse built in 1872, and a two-room building replaced it 26 years later. Ladue News dates the later brick building to 1925, with an enlargement in 1933, and quoted preservation historian Esley Hamilton of St. Louis County Parks, who said the building "is renowned for its Aztec-influenced decorative panels, which depict scenes of early American exploration." Churchill School bought the property in 1983, and the building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 14, 1985.
On May 21, 2012, the Ladue City Council approved a demolition permit for the building, Patch reported. The local Scout troop that once met there says it was demolished around 2012. Its address, 1035 Price School Lane, keeps the name in use.
Where to Mark the Birthday
The city plans to finish its 90th year with events at City Hall, the same Clayton Road address where the police department settled after the 1936 vote. The city clerk's October 14 report to the City Council lists the November and December calendar:
- Campaign sign recycling, November 3 through 13. Drop off corrugated plastic signs and separated metal posts at the Deer Creek Preserve public parking lot.
- Honeysuckle Hack, Saturday, November 7, 8 to 10 a.m. Volunteers will pull invasive honeysuckle at Deer Creek Preserve, 9810 S. Forty Dr. The city asks for an RSVP.
- Coffee with the Mayor, Tuesday, November 10, 8 to 9:30 a.m. This is an informal conversation with Mayor Spewak at City Hall.
- Hot Chocolate, Cookies & Conversation, Thursday, December 3, 4 to 6 p.m. The 90th-birthday celebration at City Hall will have cake, cookies, hot chocolate, items from the city archives and activities for children.
- Ladue Merchants Holiday Walk, Saturday, December 5, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A listing from Great Cover-Up Design promises carolers and a visit from Santa as shoppers stroll through local stores. During the walk, Ladue Police, Fire and other participating vehicles will run Fill the Fleet, collecting new, unwrapped toys for Toys for Tots. The Ladue Youth Council will hand out hot chocolate to donors. The city lists this date as tentative.
The Holiday Walk's timing has moved over the years. In 2011, Patch described it as a Clayton Road tradition held the Thursday before Thanksgiving. This year it falls on a Saturday, two days after the birthday celebration.
In her newsletter invitation, Mayor Spewak asks residents to "stop by and share your memories along with your hopes for the future."
People who sell a home in Ladue are often selling the history that comes with it: a road named for a farm, a lot on old village land, a building that has stood on the same corner since 1928. If you'd like to talk about how your home's story fits into what Ladue looks like at 90, Thompson & Richardson would be glad to listen. Request a Private Home Consultation.
