In the late 18th century, prior to the founding of St. Louis, present-day Forest Park Southeast was part of a region of communal French farms known as Prairie des Noyers ("Meadows of the Walnut Trees").

[2] A portion of this tract containing modern-day Forest Park Southeast was sold to Henry Shaw in the 1840s, and the Missouri Pacific Railroad purchased its right-of-way at the southern edge of the neighborhood in 1850.

[2] While its proximity to industry and railroads made it less desirable than the affluent Central West End to the north, Forest Park Southeast was ideally situated to house a diverse working-class population of merchants, tradesmen, and laborers.

[2] Forest Park Southeast was largely built out by 1910, and it experienced its final wave of construction in the mid-1920s as St. Louis's population continued to disperse to the west.

[3][4] Gentrification of Forest Park Southeast began in the 1990s with the arrival of LGBT-oriented bars and clubs along Manchester Avenue, establishing the neighborhood as a gay village.

[6] WUMCRC has partnered with local developers to build a mix of market-rate and affordable single-family housing on these properties, which are largely concentrated in the southern half of the neighborhood.