Tuxedo Park Station (Missouri Pacific Railway Station)

In 1890, Lilburn G. McNair, grandson of Missouri's first governor, Alexander McNair, purchased property to create an exclusive 200-acre commuter suburb called Tuxedo Park, and he sold (for one dollar) one lot to the Missouri Pacific Railway Company to use as the Tuxedo Park Station. It survives today as a reminder of the significance of the railroad to Webster Groves, as it evolved into a commuter suburb with several residents (mainly middle class) living in Webster Groves and working in St. Louis.

The station opened in 1890 and served customers until 1961. Tuxedo Park functioned as a classic, small, suburban commuter station. Towns such as Webster Groves, Kirkwood, and Maplewood arose as middle-class, bourgeois residents of St. Louis left the overcrowded, polluted, and concrete-laden city for a more country-like atmosphere. They could afford larger suburban homes and lots as well as the cost of taking a train routinely into the city. Before the arrival of streetcars and automobiles, businesspersons generally lived near train stations, such as in Tuxedo Park in Webster Groves. 

Lilburn McNair, the grandson of Missouri's first governor, worked as the Kansas Pacific Railroad's treasurer, promoted steam and street railways, and was a partner in McNair & Tracy, the first St. Louis brokerage to have telegraph connections with the New York Stock Exchange. As a successful entrepreneur, he enjoyed a high social standing and belonged to elite St. Louis clubs. Pierre Lorillard built the upscale Tuxedo Park in suburban New York, which appears to have influenced McNair in investing and designing Tuxedo Park in Webster Groves. Those living in the 7,000-acre residential area in New York had to wear a gold oak leaf pin (the Tuxedo Park badge) to enter. In comparison, McNair published a brochure advertisement about Tuxedo Park in Webster Groves called "Leaves of Tuxedo," and shaped like an Oak Leaf. McNair developed his exclusive St. Louis Tuxedo Park with deed restrictions against saloons, stores, and houses costing less than $1,500. 

The Tuxedo Park Station served the Tuxedo Park community, and its elaborate design speaks to its significance and its bourgeois clientele. The ticket agent lived nearby and walked to the station before 6 a.m. when the first of up to ten eastbound trains left Tuxedo Park during the business week. However, streetcars and the automobile took customers away from the railroad by the 1920s; Missouri Pacific reduced the trains to six by 1921, three by 1940, and then ended service in 1961.  

The railroad used the station to store equipment until 1980, when they scheduled it for demolition. But, Webster Groves' mayor convinced Missouri Pacific to donate the station to the city. Hence, unlike most historic Missouri Pacific Railroad buildings along the Saint Louis commuter line, the station survives and reminds of the town's railway-suburb history. Moreover, the Tuxedo Park Station is the only example of Richardsonian Romanesque architecture in Webster Groves. 

"Area History." Webster Groves Government Website. Accessed May 13, 2023. https://www.webstergrovesmo.gov/137/Area-History.

Blaes, Michael E. "Tuxedo Park Station." Blaes Architects. 2023. https://blaesdesign.com/aboutus/station.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 14, 2023. https://historicwebster.org/history-of-webster-groves/.

Morris, Ann and Esley Hamilton. "Nomination Form: Tuxedo Park Station." National Register of Historic Places. mostateparks.com. 1984. https://mostateparks.com/sites/mostateparks/files/Tuxedo%20Park%20Station.pdf.