Tower Grove Park

St Louis, Missouri · public grass courts in a Victorian park

St. Louis, Missouri, United States · Public courts

No. 20, World's Greatest Grass Clubs

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No. 20, World's Greatest Grass Clubs

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Three grass courts in a Victorian city park, open to anyone who books.

Location: Tower Grove Park, St Louis, Missouri
The park: Given to the city by Henry Shaw in 1868; opened 1872; a National Historic Landmark since 1989
Grass courts: 3, refurbished in 2017; a local history dates them to 1911
Visitors: Open to the public by reservation, July to October
On the grass: The Woodie Classic, a wooden-racket event run by USTA St. Louis
Other courts: 9 hard
Season: Members
Address: Northeast Drive, St. Louis, Missouri, 63110, United States

Why it is special

Tower Grove Park was the gift of Henry Shaw, a St Louis businessman and botanist who also founded the neighbouring Missouri Botanical Garden. He gave the land to the city in 1868 and the park opened in 1872. Its 289 acres hold thirty-two pavilions, most of them Victorian, and it was made a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

Lawn tennis came early. A local history records three lawn courts laid in 1911, with clay courts and spring and summer tournaments from 1912. The park’s tennis centre, named for Shaw, now has nine hard courts and eight pickleball courts beside three grass courts, refurbished in 2017, which can be reserved by members of the public from July to October. The park describes them, citing the USTA, as the only public grass courts in the country.

Since 2022 the courts have hosted the Woodie Classic, played with wooden rackets in clothing from before 1982; its 2024 edition marked 150 years of lawn tennis in the United States. In a country where most grass courts belong to private clubs, Tower Grove is the exception: a Victorian park where anyone can book a lawn.

About the club

The Henry Shaw Memorial Tennis Courts, established in 1952, stand at the centre of Tower Grove Park in St. Louis, Missouri, and are open to players of all ages and abilities. The facility was renovated in 2017. It now has nine hard tennis courts, eight hard pickleball courts and 3 grass courts, newly refurbished, which the park describes as the only public grass courts in the United States.