United States · Missouri · St. Louis
Clayton/Tamm, St. Louis — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Clayton-Tamm is the Irish neighborhood of Dogtown in St. Louis, lying just south of Forest Park, where the March parade runs down Tamm Avenue.
About Clayton/Tamm
Where to stay in Clayton/Tamm
Not every neighbourhood fits every trip — here's what each one is good for.
Lodging on Tamm Avenue is close to nonexistent. The crossing of Clayton Avenue and Tamm Avenue carries the whole business district, a couple of blocks of storefronts inside a grid of houses that runs west to Louisville Avenue, so a bed here usually means a rented apartment rather than a hotel desk. Hampton Avenue is the way out, feeding Interstate 64 north and Interstate 44 south within minutes.
This corner of St. Louis suits you if the March parade is the reason for the trip, or if Forest Park and its museums are the plan for the day. Manchester Road closes the south.
About Clayton/Tamm
What are the main landmarks in Clayton/Tamm?
St. James the Greater Catholic Church anchors Dogtown, and the parade of the Ancient Order of Hibernians passes it every March 17 on Tamm Avenue. Turtle Park marks the other corner, at Oakland Avenue and Tamm Avenue, where seven concrete turtles and a snake sculpted by Bob Cassilly opened in 1996 on a slice of Forest Park that Interstate 64 had severed. The museums lie north of the highway.
The Saint Louis Art Museum, the Saint Louis Zoo, the Missouri History Museum and the Saint Louis Science Center all stand inside Forest Park rather than in Clayton-Tamm, a walk north across the highway from Clayton Avenue.
What is the history of Clayton/Tamm?
Charles Gratiot asked the Spanish authorities in 1785 for leave to farm this land, and the grant, formalized in 1798 and reaffirmed by the United States in 1808 after the Louisiana Purchase, was split into twelve strips among his heirs. Coal and clay came next. Cheltenham and the ground around it turned into a mining district through the late nineteenth century, and when the city bought the land for Forest Park in 1876 the displaced miners built shacks to the south and set watchdogs over them, which is the likeliest source of the name Dogtown.
Preparations for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 accelerated the growth.
Where is Clayton/Tamm?
Hampton Avenue bounds the east, Manchester Road the south and Louisville Avenue the west, while Oakland Avenue and Interstate 64 cut it off from Forest Park.
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Updated September 2026