Designed in 1873 by Henry Thiele, this wooden pavilion near the Music Stand in Tower Grove Park was built as a rest station to support the many people who enjoyed carriage drives through the park in the late nineteenth century. At the time, the facility also included hitching posts for horses and a wooden fence built in the Chinese Chippendale style that has since been removed along with the hitching posts. The Old Carriage Shelter is one of ten colorful Victorian pavilions in Tower Grove Park. Each pavilion adds to the historic character of the landscape while offering places to sit and relax. Tower Grove Park was founded by the philanthropist Henry Shaw as a public space for people to enjoy the outdoors.

In 1867, the retired St. Louis merchant Henry Shaw began his second major philanthropic project in St. Louis with the establishment of a public park. He had already completed his first comprehensive project in 1859 with the founding of the Missouri Botanical Garden on land that was adjacent to his own country estate. In the 1860s, he decided to donate park of his estate in order to create Tower Grove Park.

At that time, the city of St. Louis had not yet spread far enough westward to include the Missouri Botanical Garden or the land adjacent to it, which was part of Shaw's estate. However, residential neighborhoods were gradually developing and expanding the city's reach. Shaw recognized that the trend would continue, and he wanted to offer a place where people could escape the pollution and smog that beset downtown. He envisioned a new public park created in the Gardenesque style with winding paths, densely planted flower gardens, and colorfully-painted Victorian pavilions or 'summer houses.'

From the start, the park was designed for the pre-automobile era. Horse-drawn carriages were the primary means of transit along the wide loop through the park, although pedestrians were also welcomed when the site officially opened to the public in 1872. As described in a Tower Grove Park brochure, the Old Carriage Shelter was an open-air pavilion that provided a rest stop for visitors arriving on horseback or in carriages. Those who were "desiring to stroll about in the shade while listening to the music could leave their horses or vehicles at this spot, where they would be safe and out of the way."

Old Carriage Pavilion, Tower Grove Park. Accessed November 10th, 2022. https://www.towergrovepark.org/old-carriage-pavilion.

Tower Grove Park: Common Ground and Grateful Shade Since 1872, St. Louis Public Radio. September 17th, 2022. Accessed November 10th, 2022. https://saint-louis-in-tune.captivate.fm/episode/tower-grove-park-common-ground-and-grateful-shade-since-1872.

Doyle, Amanda E.. Tower Grove Park: Common Ground and Grateful Shade Since 1872. Reedy Press.

Our History, Tower Grove Park. Accessed November 10th, 2022. https://www.towergrovepark.org/our-history-1.

Tower Grove Park National Historic Landmark, St. Louis MO Government. Accessed November 10th, 2022. https://www.stlouis-mo.gov/government/departments/planning/cultural-resources/Tower-Grove-Park-National-Historic-Landmark.cfm.

Hare, Kristen. Take 5: Another look at Henry Shaw as his 213th birthday approaches, St. Louis Public Radio. July 19th, 2013. Accessed November 10th, 2022. https://news.stlpublicradio.org/arts/2013-07-19/take-5-another-look-at-henry-shaw-as-his-213th-birthday-approaches.