Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Des Peres

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
CHistory
History · Des Peres

Des Peres’ post office opened in 1848

More historic than 28% of U.S. towns · #175 of 247 in Missouri. What drives it

Most of Des Peres was built recently: 0.4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1933 on, and the census since 1940.

1848first post office
0on the National Register
0.4%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Des Peres’ archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Des Peres began

When was Des Peres founded?

1848

The Des Peres post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name.

First census: 641 in 19402020 census: 9,193178 years

How historic is Des Peres?

C

More historic than 28% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first Des Peres post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Des Peres’ History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Des Peres is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #175 of 247 in Missouri. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Des Peres’ overall grade.
Founding era1848, from the first post office: founded 1776–1849, an older era than 75% of U.S. townsA−Homes built before 19400.4% of homes (±0.4) · typical MO town 8.4% · U.S. 8.4%DNational RegisterNo listings counted · typical MO town 2.4 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 28%
NewerOlder
Missouri towns of 2,500+ (247)Ahead of 29%

Missouri towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Missouri town has 2.4 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Des Peres’ 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Missouri towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D to C+. The pre-1940 share (±0.4 points) is firm at this size. The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.

Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Des Peres’ past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Deep rootsA post office since 1848: 178 years of Des Peres.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Des Peres’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Des Peres’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Date a photo1 archive item has no date. Guess the decade.+2Retake an old viewDes Peres School. 6307 Michigan Avenue: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Timeline

Des Peres, 1848 to 1956

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1848Post officeThe Des Peres post office opens
  3. 1876In the archiveDes Peres School. 6307 Michigan Avenue
  4. 20th century
  5. 1902Post officeThe Des Peres post office closes
  6. 1933On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1956Born hereJim Talent is born here
The story

How Des Peres came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Des Peres.

Read it all →

The first inhabitants of Des Peres were the Cahokia, the Kaskaskia, the Mitchigamea, the Moingona, and the Otoe peoples. As well as the Missouria, and Osage, and Tamaroa peoples.

The Osage Nation lived in the area around Des Peres. The Osage were members of the Dhegiha Sioux group of tribes. This group also included the Ponca tribe, Quapaw tribe, Kansas tribe, and Omaha tribe.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Des Peres, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1870s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1870s1 item
Des Peres School. 6307 Michigan Avenue1876Des Peres School. 6307 Michigan Avenue
Date unknown1 to date
Pioneer ParkDate?Pioneer Park
Today5 recent
Interstate 270 North at Exit 9, Route 100, Manchester Rd exit (1991)2024Interstate 270 North at Exit 9, Route 100, Manchester…Interstate 270 North at Exits 12A-B, US 40 & US 61, Wentzville & St. Louis exits (1992)2020Interstate 270 North at Exits 12A-B, US 40 & US 61, W…Des Peres School2014Des Peres SchoolDes Peres City Hall 012009Des Peres City Hall 01MOMap-doton-Des Peres2004MOMap-doton-Des Peres
On the map

Des Peres on the map, 1933 to 1993

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Des Peres. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Des Peres on the 1933 USGS mapDes Peres on the 1940 USGS mapDes Peres on the 1954 USGS mapDes Peres on the 1968 USGS mapDes Peres on the 1974 USGS mapDes Peres on the 1982 USGS mapDes Peres on the 1993 USGS map1933Kirkwood sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Des Peres.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Des Peres School. 6307 Michigan Avenue
Retake this viewDes Peres School. 6307 Michigan Avenue, 1876

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Des Peres’ page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Des Peres, census by census

02,0004,0006,0008,00010,000194019601980200020209,193

Grew from 641 people in 1940 to 9,193 in 2020, more than tenfold.

9 censuses, 1940–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Des Peres’ Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Des Peres had its own post office from 1848 to 1902.

Des Peres
1848–1902
18401930today
1cemetery inside Des Peres
Saint Pauls

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Kirkwood29 historic placesA−Town and Country1 historic placeDFrontenac1 historic placeD

Questions about Des Peres’ history

What year was Des Peres founded?

The Des Peres post office opened in 1848, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

How does Des Peres rank for history?

Des Peres is more historic than 28% of U.S. towns, #175 of 247 in Missouri. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Des Peres?

0.4% of Des Peres’ homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 8.4% for a Missouri town; the median home was built in 1976.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (7), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.