In 1850, Hiram W. Leffingwell and Richard Smith Elliott bought land 14 miles (23 km) from downtown, which was at about the same time James P. Kirkwood, chief engineer of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, was laying out a route for the train line.

When the railroad reached the community in 1853, the developers sold lots for the Kirkwood Association.

Other Leffingwell developments were to include the construction of Grand Avenue and the establishment of Forest Park.

[9] In 1866, the Quinette Cemetery was built, which is one of the five historic African American burial grounds in the St. Louis area.

The Kirkwood High School Pioneers and Webster Groves Statesmen alternate as hosts of the annual Turkey Day Game, the longest-running football high school Thanksgiving Day rivalry west of the Mississippi.

[13] The winner of the Turkey Day Game receives the Frisco Bell, while the loser gets the Little Brown Jug.

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), it has become a symbol of the town.

It is the only station stop that Amtrak makes in the St. Louis metropolitan area outside the central city.

Among the four other buildings in Kirkwood listed on the NRHP is a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Ebsworth Park Foundation.

Founded in 1944, it restores, preserves, and displays a wide variety of vehicles spanning 15 decades of American history: cars, boats, aircraft, and in particular, locomotives and railroad equipment from around the United States.

[citation needed] The outdoor market offers a variety of homegrown vegetables and fruits.

The Magic House, St. Louis Children's Museum in Kirkwood has become a popular family attraction for the region.

The Magic House was ranked by Zagat as America's top travel destination based on child appeal.

[citation needed] The city also won the America in Bloom 2007 Community Involvement Criteria Award.

[16] The 2020 United States census[18] counted 29,461 people, 11,423 households, and 7,331 families in Kirkwood.

William McEntee, who was investigating a fireworks call when Johnson walked up and shot him several times.

Lynch, Public Works Director Kenneth Yost, and police officers Sgt.

Kirkwood mayor Mike Swoboda and Suburban Journals reporter Todd Smith were injured.

Mayor Swoboda died on September 6, 2008, succumbing to cancer in addition to complications from the February shootings.

Kirkwood sits along the Jefferson City Subdivision of the Union Pacific Railroad.

The district covers all of Kirkwood as well as all or parts of the neighboring smaller communities of Des Peres, Frontenac, Glendale, Huntleigh, Oakland, and Warson Woods.

St. Louis Community College (STLCC) operates a 78-acre (320,000 m2) campus in Kirkwood, STLCC-Meramec.