Grant's Farm

Description and history

The property was at one time owned by Ulysses S. Grant and prior to that, by the Dent family. It is now owned by the Busch family, who owned the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Company for many years until it was sold to InBev in 2008. Grant's Farm has been an animal reserve for many years and is open to the public for free; however, there is a parking fee of $12 per vehicle. This fee helps to maintain the farm. The farm is home to such animals as buffalo, elephants, camels, kangaroos, donkeys, goats, peacocks, the iconic Budweiser Clydesdales and many more. Most of these animals can be seen by visitors on a tram tour of the deer park region of the park, while the Clydesdales are found in their nearby barn and pastures. The farm also contains a cabin called "Hardscrabble," which was built by Ulysses S. Grant on another part of the property and later relocated to Grant's Farm. It is the only remaining structure that was hand-built by a U.S. president prior to assuming office.

Also on the farm is the Busch family mansion, and a house in which Ulysses S. Grant resided between the Mexican and Civil Wars—White Haven. This had been his wife, Julia Grant's, family home. Colonel Frederick Dent, Julia's father, gave 80 acres of the farm to the couple as a wedding present on what today is Rock Hill Road. Grant built his cabin on this land. Colonel Dent was a farmer in St. Louis County. He owned 925 acres along Gravois Creek, 10 miles southwest of the city, and owned slaves to farm the land. Five miles from the Dent farm was Jefferson Barracks, where Ulysses S. Grant was assigned in 1843, after attending West Point and rooming with Julia Dent's brother. Grant's cabin was featured at the 1904 World's Fair. White Haven, next door to Grant's Farm, the Busch family estate, is now a national historic site: the Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site.

Ownership and potential sale of Grant's Farm

In November 2015, the St. Louis Zoo agreed to purchase Grant's Farm from six heirs of the beer baron, August A. "Gussie" Busch Jr. for about $30 million. The deal requires a city judge to back four of the Busch heirs to release the land from a trust. Area residents would also have to approve $8.5 million in added taxes to support yearly park operational costs. The deal would triple the land holdings of the zoo and allow the zoo to build a breeding facility for its endangered animals. The Busch family would remain owners of the family mansion for the time being. A-B InBev leases the land from the Busch family and has operated Grant's Farm since it bought Anheuser-Busch. A-B InBev agreed to donate about $27 million to the zoo to buy the Farm. One Busch heir, Billy Busch, made a competing offer and wants to keep the Farm in the family. Billy Busch owns William K. Busch Brewing Co. and wants to expand his brewery on the land. In March 2016, the St. Louis Zoo Association withdrew its offer to buy Grant's Farm, citing the family's disagreement as one of the reasons. In April 2016, the family dispute continued as Billy Busch outbid his siblings offer by $1. His bid would be $26,000,001 along with $8 million to purchase the family mansion.