Hyde Park´s origins predate even the name Hyde Park. Originally, Hyde Park was simply part of Bremen, a small town platted in 1844, incorporated in 1850, and absorbed into the City of St. Louis in 1855. Bremen´s boundaries were roughly the area from present Dock Street north to East Grand Avenue, and from Twentieth Street to the river. Much of the area had originally been granted to Gabriel Cerre in 1786. He appears, however, to have done very little with the property, living in Kaskaskia until 1780. Even after moving to St. Louis, Cerre prefered Soulard to the Hyde Park area. Perhaps Cerre´s decision not to live in Bremen was due to the haphazard communications between it and St. Louis. Travel was restricted to the "Great Trail," a path that straggled northward from St. Louis along the Mississippi River Bank to Fort Bellefontaine. Today, this trail is known as Broadway within the City of St. Louis and Bellefontaine Road in the County.

Other area streets owe their names to early Bremen landowners. Among them are O´Fallon, LaBeaume, Penrose and Bissell. Bremen´s growth remained slow but steady until the 1840s, when a horse-drawn omnibus line was put into service between Bremen and St. Louis and the first waves of German settlers began arriving. Bremen, which had been a mixture of Irish and German became increasingly a German community as immigrants came to work in the areas stockyards, breweries and industries. Prominent industries included the Union stockyards (until the 1920s, cattle were driven western style from the railroads to the yards), the Krey Packing Company (founded 1892), the Mallinckrodt Chemical Company (founded 1867), various lumber yards, and the Hyde Park Brewery.

The land that is now Hyde Park was purchased by the City in 1854 in anticipation of the coming annexation of Bremen. In its early years, the property was used for a beer garden and was rented to vegetable farmers.

The first park improvements were a cast iron fountain and meandering paths begun in 1876. Later additions included a bandstand, a greenhouse and floral displays.

Hyde Park, like the other City historic districts, has seen a good deal of recent regeneration, both on the part of determined long time residents, as well as newer restorationists. Hyde Park is another example of a neighborhood rising from the ashes to a bright new future.