Single story row houses

This set of Federal transitional style row houses near Gravois and California in the Benton Park West neighborhood, as some of the earlier development in the area. The houses were built together around 1860, near Gravois Toad, where some of the earliest developments originated in South St. Louis after the development of Soulard and Carondelet. In general, early development throughout St. Louis occurred along the major thoroughfares, which were originally used as Indian trails, and did not follow the path that the other developments around them followed. The land in south St. Louis was bought by German settlers beginning in the late 1850s, as land was cheap and plentiful at the time. By the 1880s and into the early 20th century, this area saw the emergence of a commercial district, which allowed for urban development to surround these early buildings. In the late 20th century, the area had issues with abandonment, but by the early 2000s, redevelopment in the Gravois Jefferson historic district helped bring back a number of the early buildings in the neighborhood from around 1860.