United States · Missouri · St. Louis
McKinley Heights, St. Louis — Area Guide & Where to Stay
McKinley Heights fills a wedge of south St. Louis between Interstate 44 and Gravois Avenue. Single-family houses date from the 1870s.
About McKinley Heights
Where to stay in McKinley Heights
The right area depends on your trip — here's what each neighbourhood is best for.
McKinley Heights is housing to its three boundary roads, and the beds are all beyond them. Interstate 44 and Interstate 55 sealed the wedge off from the districts around it, so the restaurants and the rooms sit with Soulard to the east and Lafayette Square to the north. Inside the lines the stock is single-family, ranged along Allen Avenue and Ann Avenue past McKinley Classical Leadership Academy.
The 1904 school sits on Russell Boulevard. If you want a quiet street at night and a busy one within a walk, take a room in Soulard and come in over Gravois Avenue.
About McKinley Heights
What are the main landmarks in McKinley Heights?
McKinley Heights sits inside the McKinley Fox District, added to the National Register in 1984 and roughly bounded by 18th Street, Interstate 44, Jefferson Avenue and Gravois Avenue. McKinley Classical Leadership Academy opened at 2156 Russell Boulevard in 1904. St. Marcus United Church of Christ went up at Russell Boulevard and McNair Avenue in 1914, and Holy Trinity Serbian Eastern Orthodox Church took the corner of Geyer Avenue and McNair Avenue.
Sigel School stands on Allen Avenue. Chatillon-DeMenil House and St. Francis de Sales Church both lie outside this boundary, the first in Benton Park and the second in Fox Park.
What is the history of McKinley Heights?
Platting of McKinley Heights began in the early 1850s, and by 1875 the ground held mostly small single-family dwellings rather than rows. Corner stores arrived around 1875, and commercial strips followed along Jefferson Avenue and Gravois Avenue. The Gravois Railway Company ran the earliest cars, out from downtown by way of Russell Boulevard and Jefferson Avenue to Gravois Avenue.
Charless School of 1895 is long demolished. Interstate 44 and Interstate 55 then cut the wedge loose from the neighbourhoods beside it, and the buildings went down slowly before the McKinley Fox District listing of 1984.
Where is McKinley Heights?
McKinley Heights is a triangle in St. Louis. Interstate 44 holds the north, Jefferson Avenue the west, and Gravois Avenue slants back northeast to close the third side.
Good for
More areas in St. Louis
Updated September 2026