Rock House Edgewood Children's Center (KVC Missouri)

Likely the oldest building in Webster Groves, this historic structure began as Webster College for Boys and is now home to Edgewood Children's Center. The school served as both a school and a home for the students in the 1850s, and then later cared for orphans of Civil War soldiers. The school then expanded into an orphanage for all children. At its peak, roughly 110 orphans called The Rock House home. The school and orphanage operated for over a century and has recently become the home of the KVC-Missouri health program.

In 1852, when the area was largely rural and known as Dry Ridge, Dr. Artemus Bullard founded a prep school and college for boys: Webster College for Boys. Bullard named the school after Daniel Webster, whom he greatly admired. The Missouri Pacific Railroad arrived one year later, in 1853. When the town built a station platform near the school, they called it the Webster stop. In 1860, John Marshall developed a subdivision spanning nearly 280 acres near the railroad stop and named it Webster (later Webster Groves) because of the area's previous association with the Webster College for Boys. 

The school enjoyed tremendous success in its first years, even luring several renowned professors from New England to Webster Groves. However, in 1855, Bullard boarded a Missouri Pacific train headed on its inaugural journey to Jefferson City. He died on the trip when the train derailed. Bullard's death, coupled with the start of the Civil War in 1860, forced the small prep school to close. 

After sitting vacant for four years, the school transitioned into an orphan's home (partially funded by the state) that catered to children of both Union and Confederate soldiers. In 1869, the orphanage's owners, the Western Sanitary Commission made a deal where the school merged with the St. Louis Protestant Orphan Asylum, the oldest protestant orphanage west of the Mississippi which dates back to 1834. Nearly 110 orphaned children resided in The Rock House in 1876. 

In 1943 the institution changed its name to the Edgewood Children's Center, a name suggested by the children because of the nearby woods along the property. In 1956, the center merged with the Forest Park Children's Center but retained its Edgewood name. The center operated as Edgewood until 2009, when it merged with Boys and Girls Town of Missouri to become Great Circle. The FBI raided Great Circle in 2021 due to a series of concerns, alleged fraudulent financial dealings, and more. The building has since been taken over by the KVC-Missouri health program, a Kansas City-based juvenile psychiatric health provider that began its services in the Rock House on April 1, 2023. 

Bogan, Jesse. "Closing of residential treatment program in Webster Groves raises bigger question about traumatized youth." St. Louis Post-Dispatch. May 1, 2021. https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/metro/closing-of-residential-treatment-program-in-webster-groves-raises-bigger-question-about-traumatized-youth/article_55f02403-0897-5e10-abff-81fdded48c4b.html.

"Early History of Old Webster." Warner Properties. 2020. https://www.warner-properties.com/old-webster-history.

"History of Webster Groves." Webster Groves Historical Society. Accessed May 12, 2023. https://historicwebster.org/history-of-webster-groves/.

Morris, Ann. "Nomination Form: The Rock House, Edgewood Children's Center." National Register of Historic Places. mostateparks.com. 1980. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Rock%20House.pdf.

Mowers, Jaime. "Webster's Great Circle To Merge With KVC Missouri: Great Circle to become part of Kansas City-based health provider on April ." Webster-Kirkwood Times. February 13, 2023. https://www.timesnewspapers.com/webster-kirkwoodtimes/webster-s-great-circle-to-merge-with-kvc-missouri/article_12286418-a884-11ed-a45d-f7ccf09ba5e0.html.

Voigt, Jason. "The Rock House/Edgewood Children's Center: 1850-1962." The Historical Marker Database. February 11, 2022. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=191868.