This village, comprising much of Wildwood's commercial core on Old Manchester Road, was originally called St. Friedling and Maple Grove. Its first post office was established during the Grover Cleveland administration, and the first postmaster, John Brown, named the village Grover after the president. One of its most notable structures, the large two-story building at 16962 Manchester Road, probably was built by Fred Rettker about 1879 and was the only general store in the immediate vicinity. Louis Fick bought the store in 1890 for $2,000, and Elmer Funk took ownership in 1921. The store and the picnic area to the east became a favorite gathering place known as Funks Grove, where parades, picnics, and band concerts regularly occurred. Another early settler, Friedlien Wetterer, came to St. Louis from Baden Baden, Germany, in 1854, worked as a wagonmaker in St. Louis, opened a wagonmaking shop in Ballwin, and after the Civil War moved to Grover, where he had four sons and acquired a farm of 84 acres. Judge Frederick W. Steines, called the best known man in Meramec Township and a justice of the peace for many years, lived in Grover. The town also had a blacksmith shop and a well-known tavern owned by Christian Von Gruben.