1889-1890s
Trelease becomes the Director of the Garden and moves into an enlarged Tower Grove House.

Tower Grove House. Shows the east wing nearly completed in late 1890.

Dr. William Trelease at summer house, better known as Tower Grove House.

Once the Board was constituted, Dr. William Trelease was quickly confirmed as the new Director of the Botanical Garden. After Trelease became the Director, he and his family moved into Shaw’s old country home, Tower Grove House. The House, however, had been designed to be a home for a bachelor, not for an entire family. Therefore, the Trustees approved an expansion of the House, adding a large section on the East side of the tower, doubling the size of the home. With the construction, Tower Grove House took on the shape that it retains today. The construction was also necessary because the structures that had been built up upon the east side, for the servants and so forth, were found to be unsafe. It was determined that the outhouse had been built to close to the well.