In 1946, a carpenter named Joseph C. McBride, a carpenter and maintenance man for Carter Carburetor Co. started McBride Homes. The company was founded with a mission: to provide affordable new construction homes for returning G.I.s from World War II. With a loan for tools, McBride entered the construction business, building his first home in North St. Louis County. The company’s modest profits, always reinvested, resulted in conservative but steady growth.

Steady growth continued throughout the following decades, as McBride Homes grew under Joseph McBride’s belief that a builder is only as good as the last house they built.

During the 1950s and 1960s, under Richard McBride’s leadership, urban expansion led to the development of subdivision housing and apartments. Although construction slowed nationally in the 1970s and 1980s, McBride & Son was selected by a major lending institution to develop a large, historic tract of land north of St. Louis that would provide upscale housing for 4,500 residents. This development included Riverwood Trail, Riverwood Place, and Riverwood Estates.

Steady growth continued throughout the following decades, as McBride Homes grew under Joseph McBride’s belief that a builder is only as good as the last house they built. Through site selection, plat mapping, architectural design and the finest crafts people, quality construction stood the test of time - remaining the hallmark of every McBride Homes’ product.

In the late 1980s, McBride & Son was the first major St. Louis homebuilder to cross the Mississippi River into Illinois to develop residential communities in several municipalities. They also moved their headquarters to Chesterfield in the 1980s.

In the 1990s, McBride & Son set their sights on expansion entering the Indianapolis, Indiana and Atlanta, Georgia markets. McBride soon added the Louisville, Kentucky and Kansas City, Missouri markets in the year 2000.

The opening of our Design Studio in 2018 set us apart from the rest. This selection center provides the finest home buying experience for our customers. It allows families to personalize their dream home by choosing the latest design trends and classic selections, including flooring, cabinets, countertops, and lighting. At 10,000 square feet, it is the largest design studio in the Midwest, and won the Silver Award for Best Design Center from the National Association of Home Builders.

In 2021, we opened our new corporate headquarters in Chesterfield, adjacent to our Design Studio.

Today our philosophy is simple – with celebrating 80 years of homebuilding experience, we will continue providing a wide range of new construction homes and products, while obtaining quality craftsmanship and affordability for our customers, and the best locations in the St. Louis metro area.

McBride Homes has been the top St. Louis home builder and largest builder in the state of Missouri for over 25 years. We’ve built more than 40,000 homes across the metro area and we have the largest market share of any builder in a top market. We work hard to keep St. Louis working, and love to support local families and businesses. We are St. Louis' hometown home builder, and we’ve come a long way since 1946!