St. Louis:  A History of Our Community

St. Louis was French and Spanish before it was American.  And before the European explorers traveled down the great river, this rich land was home to the Mississippians, a mighty Indian civilization of mound builders where more than 20,000 people lived in the fertile river valley.  When that culture disappeared during Europe's Middle Ages, only their huge, mysterious earthen structures were left, earning St. Louis one of its earliest nicknames, "Mound City."

Of Pierre Laclede Liguest, the founder of St. Louis, but little of his personal history is known, further than the fact that he was a native of France, and a partner in the commercial house of Maxent, Laclede & Co., of New Orleans, for some years prior to his adventure to this Upper Louisiana in 1763-64.  Nor have we much to relate concerning him during the fourteen years of his residence in this his "village of St. Louis," as whatever documents there might have been in possession of himself or family, at the period of his death in 1778, that might have enlightened us in relation to his personal history, went into the possession of Auguste Chouteau, his principal business companion and clerk during these fourteen years.  Consequently whatever we may have to say of Pierre Laclede Liguest is derived mainly from the facts concerning him that are to be found in the archives and from tradition.

St. Louis was built in Spanish territory on a high bluff just 18 miles south of the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers -- a perfect site from which to trade with Native Americans in the fur-rich lands to the west.  France regained rights to St. Louis and the west again in 1800, but Napoleon sold the Louisiana Territory to President Thomas Jefferson in 1803 without taking possession.  Overnight the size of the United States doubled.

When Jefferson sent explorers Lewis & Clark from St. Louis to chart the new Louisiana Territory in 1804, more than 1,000 people, mostly French, Spanish, Indian and both free and slave blacks, lived in the city which already was the center of the fur trade in America.  Two years later, after the triumphant explorers returned from the Pacific with their Corps of Discovery, St. Louis became the last stop for mountain men and trappers heading to the newly opened frontier.  St. Louis' booming fur trade lasted until 1840, but the westward movement of Americans through St. Louis -- "the gateway to the west" -- was to last for many more years.  For decades, entrepreneurs would make fortunes in St. Louis by selling goods to pioneers and adventurers who gathered their supplies and headed west for land, gold, and glory.

The first steamboat arrived in St. Louis in 1817, heralding a new era of commerce and travel along the Mississippi River.  Soon it was common to see more than 100 steamboats lining the cobblestone levee during the day.  This was the Mississippi River Mark Twain came to know as a riverboat pilot and later as an author.  In 1849, a deadly fire destroyed one-third of the city when the steamboat White Cloud exploded on the riverfront.  Two historic structures, the Old Courthouse and Old Cathedral, both of which are open to visitors today, were saved by a quick-thinking fireman who lost his life setting and explosion that kept the flames away from both buildings.





The famous race between the Robert E. Lee and the Natchez was made in July 1870 from New Orleans to St. Louis, 1,278 river miles.  The race was won by the Lee with a time of 3 days 18 hours and 14 minutes.

                                              St. Louis Sports History

St. Louis has a storied sports history. Among the notable highlights:

St. Louis hosted the first major horse show in the country, the St. Louis Horse Show, as the main event of a fair in 1856. The St. Louis National Charity Horse Show, held annually in the early fall, is rated among the top three horse shows in the nation.

In 1900, St. Louis Dwight Davis donated a trophy, the Davis Cup, which is still the most prized team award in tennis.





In 1904, St. Louis was the site of the third Olympic games of modern times and the first ever held in the United States. The 1904 Olympics were held on the campus of Washington University, which also hosted the first-ever U.S. National Senior Olympics in 1987. To celebrate the centennial of the St. Louis games, a series of Olympic events took place in 2004 including the U.S. Olympic Team Trials for the Women's Marathon and for Diving.  Winners from the St. Louis events competed for the U.S. in Athens.







In 1906, Saint Louis University quarterback Bradbury Robinson threw the first forward pass in the history of football. It was caught by tight end Jack Schneider.

The Women's International Bowling Congress was started in 1916.

In 1920, St. Louis-born George H. Walker put up a trophy for competition between United States and British golfers. The Walker Cup, contested every other year, is still one of golf's most treasured prizes.

The St. Louis Cardinals were the only team in baseball to win three pennants in the 1980's and have won more baseball World Series championships (9) than any other National League team. St. Louis is known as a savvy baseball town so much so that Sports Illustrated and Baseball America magazines have called it America's Best Baseball City.

Known as "The Wizard of Oz," Ozzie Smith combined athletic ability with acrobatic skill to become one of the game's great defensive shortstops.  The 13-time Gold Glove Award winner set major league shortstop records for assists, double plays and total chances.  He would develop into an offensive weapon, finishing with over 2,400 hits and 500 stolen bases.  His ninth inning home run won the fifth game of the 1985 National League Championship Series.  Ozzie was elected to the Hall of Fame by Baseball Writers in 2002, Player 433 votes on 472 ballots -- 91.4%.



One of baseball's all-time greats, Hall of Famer Stan "The Man" Musial, played his entire career for the St. Louis Cardinals. Musial, who still lives and works in St. Louis, has a career batting average of .331, a career total of 3630 hits, was named National League Most Valuable Player three times and played in the All-Star game 19 times. Musial was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1969.



Thirty-seven Cardinals plus broadcaster Jack Buck and former broadcaster Harry Caray have been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, NY. Fifteen baseball Cardinals have won the National League Most Valuable Player Award. Lou Brock, who retired in 1979 after 16 seasons with the Cardinals, held the National League record for stolen bases in a career (938) for many years.




Baseball history was made in St. Louis' Busch Stadium in 1998 when St. Louis Cardinal slugger Mark McGwire hit a record 70 home runs during a single season.





In 2004, the St. Louis Cardinals became the National League Champions and posted 105 wins -the most in the Major Leagues.

St. Louis continued a century-old tradition of making major news in the world of sports when the St. Louis Rams became the champions of the first Super Bowl of the millennium. It's the first time in history that a St. Louis team played in the NFL championship event. The Rams clinched the world championship title on January 30, 2000 with a 23 - 16 victory over the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV. Football fans voted St. Louis' victory as the "best Super Bowl ever" according to a CNNSI.com poll. The Rams won the NFC Championship again in the 2001 season and returned to Super Bowl XXXVI.


Football's greatest tight end, Hall of Famer Jackie Smith is a resident of St. Louis. Much of his illustrious career was spent with the Cardinals in St. Louis. Dan Dierdorf, a recent inductee into the Football Hall of Fame, is also a resident of St. Louis. A former broadcaster for the ABC television network, Dierdorf was a key player for the St. Louis Football Cardinals.

The St. Louis Blues are the only NHL team to appear in the playoffs every year in the 1980's and 1990's. Since joining the National Hockey League in 1967, the Blues have missed the Stanley Cup playoffs only four times. The team takes to the ice at the 20,000-seat Savvis Center in downtown St. Louis.

The old St. Louis Arena hosted the 1973 and 1978 NCAA basketball Final Four and served as host for several NCAA regional championships. The 1998 men's regionals were held in St. Louis at Savvis Center and returned in 1999 taking the court at The Edward Jones Dome at America's Center. The Edward Jones Dome at America's center holds the attendance record for an NCAA Regional event. More than 42,000 fans jammed the Dome for each of the tournament's three games that took place in St. Louis on March 19 and 20, 1999.

The 2000 NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships held at St. Louis' Savvis Center, March 15 - 18, 2000, sold the most all-session tickets in the 69-year history of the event. The record-breaking attendance of 96,994 surpassed the previous record set in 1997 when 90,064 people watched the championship matches.

The United States Senior Open Championship came to St. Louis in 2004. The golf championship celebrated its 25th anniversary milestone in the Gateway City.

                                              St. Louis Music History

W.C. Handy stood on the banks of the Mississippi River in St. Louis and made his mark on the world of music.  We presume he watched the muddy waters slip by his perch on the levee stones, closed his eyes to mark the moment and whispered, "I hate to see the evenin' sun go down." The song born of his riverfront reverie was called "The St. Louis Blues" and it has become of the world's most recorded song, cementing St. Louis' place in the world of American roots music forever.

Handy's contemporary, Scott Joplin, was a regular in the nightspots around St. Louis during the time of the 1904 World's Fair.  His ragtime tunes were the Rock'n'Roll of the era -- the music of the counter culture.  Some of Joplin's most important works were created  while he played for society during the day and in the sporting houses and clubs of St. Louis at night. Joplin's house, 2658A Delor, St. Louis, Missouri 63103, a Missouri State Historic Landmark, is open daily for tours.


Jazz influences steamed into town aboard northbound riverboats from New Orleans where they blended with Joplin's established ragtime and encountered a great migration of blues musicians from the Mississippi delta region. The integration of these musical styles created a sound that took its name from Handy's famous composition and became known as the St. Louis Blues.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the St. Louis blues were joined by a new sound -- rhythm and blues. Developed in the nightclubs of St. Louis and Memphis, the sound was described as a "driving dance beat combined with a bluesy delivery."  St. Louisians Ike and Tina Turner were at the forefront of this St. Louis sound and R&B quickly grew to fill a popular music void created after the end of the Big Band jazz era. Bands from St. Louis, Memphis and New Orleans took to the road, playing nightclubs and dancehalls across America, spreading St. Louis' distinctive and innovative approach to music across the country and around the world.  Today bands carry on the tradition of live St. Louis music clubs throughout the region.

The annual U.S. Bank St. Louis Jazz Festival takes place in June in the Clayton neighborhood, and the Whitaker Music Festival lights up the Missouri Botanical Garden Wednesday nights in June and July. A free concert series called Blues on the Mississippi takes place throughout June, July, and August in Jefferson Barracks Park. The Big Muddy Blues Festival rocks Labor Day weekend in the Laclede's Landing entertainment district, bringing the biggest names in blues to the cobblestone streets for days of free music. For additional music, festival and event information, check the interactive and constantly updated St. Louis Calendar of Events.

St. Louis is the gateway to America's Music Corridor, a self-guided blues, jazz and rock'n'roll tour that links the musical heritage of the lower Mississippi River region from St. Louis to New Orleans. Winner of the Travel Industry Association's prestigious Odyssey Award for the best cultural tourism program in the country, America's Music Corridor offers visitors a chance to explore the history of American music at historic sites such as the Scott Joplin House in St. Louis, Sun Studios in Memphis and the Jazz Museum in New Orleans.  After hours, visitors can listen to the living legends of roots music in nightclubs along the route.

Old Cathedral
Basilica of St. Louis, King of France

The history of the Old Cathedral and the early history of the City of St. Louis are intertwined.  The Old Cathedral Museum, located on the west side of the Cathedral, contains many artifacts and relics from the early days of the Catholic Church in St. Louis and also historical information.  When Pierre Liguest Laclede and his First Lieutenant Auguste Chouteau founded the City of St. Louis in 1764, Laclede dedicated the square just west of where he built his home, to church and graveyard purposes.  The first Catholic Church in St. Louis built on this site, was a small log house built in 1770.  St. Louis IX, King of France, is the Patron Saint of the City and of the Church.  In 1776, the mission of St. Louis became a canonical parish and the second log cabin church was built.  Its bell, the gift of Lieutenant Governor Don Piernos and enriched by 200 Spanish silver dollars in its casting, can be seen today in the Old Cathedral Museum.

On January 27, 1961, Pope John XXIII signed a Decree naming the former Cathedral of St. Louis, a Basilica, recognizing it as "a treasure of the universal church".  It belongs in a real sense to the whole world and not just to our locality.  The ornamental insignia of a basilica are the half open umbrella (canopeum), and the bell in the key shaped frame (tintinnabulum) which led papal processions.  These insignia are displayed in the rear of the church.

By 1933, some 40 blocks of the downtown riverfront surrounding the Old Cathedral had fallen into decay.  Luther Ely Smith, a St. Louisan, spelled out a plan for developing a memorial on the riverfront to Mayor Bernard F. Dickmann who had been married in the Old Cathedral.  On December 15, 1933, Mayor Dickmann called a meeting of St. Louis civic leaders in the Jefferson Hotel.  From this meeting was born the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial which surrounds the Old Cathedral.  President Roosevelt authorized the Interior Department to acquire the tract of the original city settlement between Poplar Street and the Eads Bridge west to Third Street.  The only exception, the only buidling to be saved, the only land not to be claimed for the park, was the site of the church, and the historic Old Cathedral building standing where it has always stood.  The memorial commemorates Thomas Jefferson, under whose presidency Louisiana was purchased, and the pioneers who broke open the American west.  The Basilica of St. Louis, King of France, "The Old Cathedral" stands in the center of the memorial as a reminder of the expansion of faith throughout the west.

Highlights:

- The sanctuary, with four fluted columns in the Corinthian style, is 40 feet long and 30 feet wide.

New Cathedral
Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis

St. Louis Churches

Over 3,500 churches in the local St. Louis area . . .

St. Louis Hospitals

                                                       Barnes-Jewish Hospital
                                                       Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital
                                                       Christian Hospital Northeast Northwest
                                                       Des Peres Hospital
                                                       Forest Park Hospital
                                                       Hawthorn Children's Psychiatric Hospital
                                                       Missouri Baptist Hospital
                                                       Normandy Community Hospital
                                                       Saint Louis University Hospital
                                                       Shriners Hospital
                                                       Southpointe Hospital
                                                       St. Alexius Hospital
                                                       St. Anthony's Hospital
                                                       St. John's Mercy Hospital
                                                       St. Joseph Hospital of Kirkwood
                                                       St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
                                                       St. Louis Children's Hospital
                                                       St. Luke's Hospital
                                                       St. Mary's Hospital
                                                       Washington University School of Medicine


Like its geographic location - at the population center of the country - St. Louis remains well centered in the worldwide medical community with top talent, two world-renowned teaching hospitals, advanced hospital networks, and many other state-of-the-art facilities.

New residents can take comfort knowing premier healthcare is literally right in their neighborhood at one of the St. Louis hospitals staffed by nearly 7,100 physicians.  The city has an enviable ratio of roughly one doctor for every 353 residents.

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is the 11th busiest in airport operations in North America and 15th in total passengers.  Lambert currently has 83 gates with 10 major air carriers serving more than 180 cities worldwide.  The airport handles almost 1,400 average daily arrivals and departures.  In 2002, Lambert served more than 25 million passengers.  Lambert is a hub for American Airlines and generates $5.1 billion annually in the St. Louis economy.


The airport sits on approximately 2,162 acres of land and anticipates acquiring an additional 1,544 acres through its Expansion Program that will be completed in 2006.




Lambert employs over 15,000 people through airlines, vendors, service companies, and the City of St. Louis.  Of the 15,000 people, 550 are City of St. Louis employees.  The airport is owned and operated by the City of St. Louis.

History:  Initially, the area now known as Lambert-St. Louis International Airport was a balloon launch location called Kinloch Field. 

President Theodore Roosevelt, the first president to ride in an airplane, took his first ride at the Kinloch airfield.  Soon after, the first experimental parachute jump in the world took place in St. Louis.  Then Major Albert Lambert purchased the 550 acres of land known as Kinloch Field and renamed it Lambert Field.  Major Lambert was the first person in St. Louis to receive his private pilot's license, having taken his first flight in an airplane with Orville Wright.

In June 1920, Major Lambert was not only a man with a dream, but also one with great foresight and generosity.  His vision enabled St. Louis to become a key in the growing aviation industry.  What many would have viewed as an ordinary hayfield, on June 18, 1920, became a 170 acre airfield.  At his own expense, he developed the airfield by clearing, grading, and draining the land and erecting hangars.  Eight years later, Lambert's airfield was a base for passenger and freight service.

On May 12, 1927, Col. Charles Lindbergh departed St. Louis for New York to begin his historic non-stop solo flight to Paris, France.  About this time, Lambert Field was dubbed :The New Union Station of St. Louis."  However, the City of St. Louis had yet to purchase the field as a municipal airport.

In November 1927, Major Lambert offered Mayor Victor Miller and the City Administration, Lambert Airfield for $68,000, the price he had paid for the field alone, even though improvements had been made to the field.  The additional acreage was obtained through a passage of a $2 million bond issue.  Prior to the passage of the bond issue, Major Lambert agreed to lease the airfield to the city for fifteen months for a total of $1.  Finally, on February 7, 1928, the city accepted his generous offer, contingent upon the passage of the airport bond issue.  Lambert-St. Louis Municipal Airport became the first municipally owned airport in the country.

Lambert's first passenger terminal was constructed for Robertson Airlines, which featured St. Louis to New Orleans service.  Next, Marquette Airlines began service from St. Louis to Detroit.  In that year, 24,133 people arrived and departed from Lambert.  By 1938, that figure increased to 40,000 passengers with approximately 170,000 landings and take-offs of all types of aircraft.  Services at and from Lambert Airfield continued to expand.  McDonnell Aircraft was established on Lambert Airfield.  That was the predecessor to McDonnell Douglas Corporation, which recently merged with Boeing Aircraft.  Service to St. Louis from Nashville, Tn, and Miami, Fl, was begun by Eastern Airlines.

Spirit of St. Louis Airport

St. Louis Parks & Recreation

St. Louisans have had a long love affair with their parks!

From the crown jewel, Forest Park, to the smallest park, Aboussie Park in Soulard, St. Louis residents make their neighborhood parks part of their lives.

Parks serve as the anchor of city neighborhoods!

Parks host countless weddings, parties, picnics, family reunions, rallies and even memorial services.  When the Rams won the Super Bowl, the celebration was in Kiener Plaza, a city park.  When we hosted the 1904 World's Fair, it was in a city park.

Almost all outdoor art work is in a city park.

Parks also provide a quiet place to get away from the city.

And that was the original intent.  In 1812, the first land was set aside to be used for parks.  Gravois Park, at Louisiana and Miami; Laclede Park, Iowa and Gasconade; and Mt. Pleasant Park, Michigan and Dakota, are the first parks created in St. Louis.  The land was part of the St. Louis Common.

When the Common was divided in 1836, an ordinance preserved the 29.95 acres for public use as a park, which became Lafayette Park.  It was separated from the Commons in 1844 but it wasn't until 1851 that it was formally dedicated as Lafayette Square, the name that became associated with the neighborhood that grew up around the park.

In 1868, Henry Shaw gave the city Tower Grove Park, adjacent to his country home and west of the city limits.

Forest Park was established in 1874 when the Missouri Legislature passed ordinances to establish three parks in what was then St. Louis County:  Carondelet Park in the south; Forest Park in the center and O'Fallon Park on the north.

The majority of the city's parks were established during the era known as "The Gilded Age" from 1869 to the turn of the 20th century.  Parks were created to meet the social needs of a crowded, industrial city.

All parks are owned by the city and were designed to meet many needs . . . escape from crowded apartment buildings, a place to view art work, a home for a zoo and a nature preserve.

It's the Parks Division of the Parks Department that operates and maintains the 105 parks in the City of St. Louis.

A city of only 62 square miles has 3,000 acres of park land and another 170 strips and triangles that have about 200 acres.

The Parks Division also maintains all facilities in the parks including 85 playgrounds, 14 fountains, countless statues and monuments, the Jewel Box in Forest Park, tennis, handball and horseshoe courts, baseball, softball, soccer, and rugby fields.

Major Parks:    Forest Park
                          Tower Grove Park
                          Carondelet Park
                          Aloe Plaza
                          Compton Reservoir
                          Downtown Parks
                          Fairground Park
                          Francis Park
                          Gateway Mall
                          Hyde Park
                          Kiener Plaza
                          Lafayette Park
                          Lucas Garden Park
                          O'Fallon Park
                          Serra Sculpture Park
                          Tilles Park
                          Willmore Park

Forest Park Forever.  And Today.

Forest Park, the seventh largest urban park in the United States, is a natural oasis in an urban environment.  Located on 1,372 acres in the center of the St. Louis metropolitan area, Forest Park is about 500 acres larger than New York City's Central Park.  The Park contains St. Louis' major museums--the Saint Louis Art Museum and the Missouri History Museum--as well as the Saint Louis Science Center, the world-famous Saint Louis Zoo and the Municipal Opera (The Muny), the country's biggest outdoor theater.  Forest Park is also home to the Jewel Box, a flower conservatory that is a popular venue for special events.  Visitors and locals alike enjoy the bike and pedestrian path that circles the park.  During every season of the year, Forest Park is a popular playground for locals and visitors alike.  Between 1996 and 2004, Forest Park received a $90 million facelift under the Forest Park master plan.

History:  When Forest Park opened to the public in June, 1876, former St. Louis resident Ulysses Grant was president of the United States.  Park visitors could come from downtown via a 40-minute carriage ride or a 20-minute train ride on the newly opened train route.  A local newspaper account of the Park's opening says some 50,000 people attended the ceremony, an impressive number considering St. Louis' population was only 350,000 at the time.  During the Park opening, the Democratic Party was holding its national convention in St. Louis.

At the time, the Park was surrounded mostly by farmland and some industry along the Missouri Pacific Railroad to the south.  Kingshighway, then known as King's Highway, ran east of the Park with Skinker Road on the west.  Both were dirt roads, and there were no roads along the northern and southern perimeters.

Forest Park was actually about a dozen years in the making.  In 1864, the Missouri Legislature authorized an election for St. Louisans to vote on a centrally located park.  At the time, a board of commissioners picked a site bounded by Laclede Avenue on the south and Kingshighway on the west.  The exact boundaries were to be negotiated with property owners.  Voters overwhelmingly rejected the plan.

In 1870, Hiram W. Leffingwell, a real estate developer who promoted Kirkwood and created Grand Boulevard, announced plans for a 3,000-acre park extending about three miles west of Kingshighway.  However, under Missouri statute at that time, only the state legislature could establish a park.  Two years later, the legislature established a scaled down park and created a commission charged with issuing bonds to purchase the land.  A special taxing district, located totally outside the city limits, was also created.  A few days after passage of the law, the legislature extended the city limits to the land in the Forest Park tax district.

People living near the park filed suit hoping to have the law declared unconstitutional.  The Missouri Supreme Court ruled that the special tax district made the Forest Park act illegal.  However, while the case was in court, the commissioners used their powers to issue bonds.  They acquired more than half of the land for the park.  The legislature then ruled the park, bonds and the new boundaries of the city were illegals.  The Supreme Court upheld the decision.

In 1874, the Missouri Legislature established three parks in St. Louis County--Carondelet in the south; Forest Park in the center and O'Fallon on the north.  The bill allowed the County (which included the City of St. Louis) to purchase the same land for Forest Park as described in the earlier Forest Park Act.  The County could issue 30-year revenue bonds to purchase the land and make improvements.

Because most of the tract was virgin forest land, the name Forest Park was chosen.

The land was placed under the jurisdiction of the Board of Park Commissioners the next year.  Also in 1875, the legislature adopted the "Municipal Divorce Bill" which separated the City of St. Louis from the County and gave all the parks and the park tax to the City of St. Louis.  It also allowed the City to extend its boundaries past the three county parks--Carondelet, O'Fallon and Forest.

The first Park Commission report noted that a few neglected farms and abandoned huts of coal miners detracted from the vast expanse of natural forest in the Park but improvement to the Park were delayed during negotiations over the railroad right-of-way through the northeast corner of the Park.

Access to the Park was a problem from the beginning but many roads, lakes, bridges, and landscaping were in place at the dedication which was held at what was then the Park's main entrance at Chouteau and Kingshighway.  At the ceremony, a statue of Edward Bates, who had been U.S. Attorney General in the cabinet of President Abraham Lincoln, was unveiled.

Initially, the only access to the Park was on the Wabash Railroad.  In 1885, the first horse car line reached the Park on Laclede Avenue.  Only the eastern portion of the Park was developed into a sylvan of winding drives and waterways.  Bandstands, pagodas and picnic grounds were scattered around the lakes.

The Forsyth Home, a popular rural retreat, was converted into the Cottage Restaurant.  The farmhouse was replaced by a new building in 1893 but it burned down and was rebuilt.  The new, much larger restaurant, located at the top of a hill east of the present Zoo, was a popular spot in the 1890s.  In addition to serving food, it had a carousel, swings and band concerts.  It was razed after the 1904 World's Fair.

In response to unemployment caused by the 1893 depression, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch began a campaign to build a lake bearing its name in the Park.  The project created jobs for several thousand workers.  In addition to the lake, crews built a boathouse alongside the lake.

Forest Park's lakes are filled through pipes with water from the River des Peres, from Cabanne Spring and with storm water runoff from the Park propelled by a steam pump.  To avoid its flooding problems, the River des Peres was put underground in the 1920's.

One of the Park's earliest attractions was the Hippodrome, a horse racing track.  Another was an ornate Moorish-style bandstand built on an island in Pagoda Lake.  The bandstand was entirely surrounded by water and accessible by bridges.

The St. Louis Amateur Athletic Association formed in 1897, built a clubhouse, tennis courts, baseball diamonds and a 9-hole golf course.  The original golf course site was a 125-acre tract south and west of DeBaliviere and Lindell.  The Louisiana Purchase Exposition paid $4,000 fro the clubhouse so it could use the property for the World's Fair.  The Parks Department then gave the group its current 70-acre site in the southeastern portion of the Park.

An 1855 plan for the Park recommended building a zoo.  By 1890, Park employees were caring for an animal collection that included deer, geese, prairie dogs and quail in an animal enclosure.  The next year, the Park had its own herd of buffalo.  Herds of elk, a dromedary, and a zebra were soon added.  The city built bear pits and animal houses in 1899 and 1901.  The Zoo's current bear pits date from the 1920's.

In early 1897, the Park Board asked the city's permission to build an art museum in Forest Park.  Three years later, the city agreed but said the building would become city property.  Art Hill was selected as the site of the museum but construction was delayed because charges were made that the director had paid a bribe to a councilman to get the site.  Ultimately, the Art Museum was built as the Palace of Fine Arts for the 1904 World's Fair.

When St. Louis was selected as the city to host the 1903 World's Fair, Forest Park was chosen as the site of the fair with the stipulation the land would be restored as a park afterwards.

Not everyone was happy with the selection of Forest Park as the site of the Fair.  Early environmentalists also opposed putting the idea on the grounds that cutting down the dense forest in the northwestern corner of the Park known as "the Wilderness" would be an environmental travesty.  They even brought suit against the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Company charging that the plan would "deforest" Forest Park.

The pro-Fair forces won, and construction began in 1901.  While work proceeded at a furious rate, it soon became clear the Fair could not be ready for a 1903 opening.  The date was moved to 1904.

But when 1904 arrived, St. Louis was ready to dazzle the world.  St. Louis and Forest Park were the focus of the world during the 184 days of the Fair.

To provide stunning backdrop befitting a world's fair of such grand proportions, the western portion of Forest Park was transformed into a fantasyland of elegant Victorian building, gondoliered lakes, picturesque cascades and highly landscaped open spaces.

Peninsular Lake, the Park's only natural lake, was renamed "The Grand Basin," reshaped and connected via a serious of lagoons with other lakes while the River des Peres, a small river which meandered through the Park, was rerouted.  Post-Dispatch Lake was drained and partially refilled to allow room for construction of the Liberal Arts Palace, the Mines and Metallurgy Palace and a sunken garden built between them.

The Grand Basin, around which eight palaces were situated, was the focal point of the Fair with boat parades held there almost daily.  Below it was the Plaza of St. Louis.  With the Grand Basin as a backdrop, the Plaza was the site of official proceedings.  At one end of the Plaza was the gigantic Louisiana Purchase monument; at the other was the statue of St. Louis that would later be placed in front of the Art Museum.

Adding to the beauty of the site, waterways, broad plazas and landscaped gardens with symbolic statues dotted the Fairgrounds.

Atop what is now called Art Hill and overlooking the Grand Basin was the majestic Festival Hall with a dome larger than that of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome.  The Hall's auditorium could seat 3,000 people and its stage held the largest pipe organ ever built.

Festival Hall, flanked by lesser pavilions called "The Atlantic" and "The Pacific" to symbolize the country's vastness, dominated the view at the top of the Grand Basin.  The Hall and its adjacent pavilions were connected by the Colonnade of States curving on each side from behind it.  From each of the buildings, a cascade of water flowed down the hill and into the Grand Basin.  Great ornate staircases decorated with statues, benches and gardens allowed visitors to walk down along the cascades.  Electricity allowed the cascades to be lit with softly changing colors at night.

Along the Colonnade of States, tiering down from the pavilions on each side of Festival Hall were 14 giant sculptures of seated figures--seven on each side--representing a state of territory from the Louisiana Purchase (Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Indian Territory).

The Fine Art Palace, now the Saint Louis Art Museum, was behind Festival Hall.  Although the Art Palace had 135 rooms, temporary buildings had to be built on each side of and to the rear of it to house the works artists from 20 nations submitted to the Fair. 

From St. Louis Plaza, the Louisiana Way stretched symbolically from the buildings of the nations involved in the Louisiana Purchase.  The French palace, modeled after the Grand Trianon at Versailles, was on the west; the United States Government Building was on the east.  The Way was the main thoroughfare of the Fairgrounds, and it was here the official parades of the Fair were held.

Two of the most interesting structures built in the Park for the Fair were a replica of the Alps including a picturesque alpine village and the Inside Inn, the only hotel located on the Fairgrounds.  The Inside Inn was located at the southeastern end of the Park.

Other then the Palace of Fine Arts which was a permanent structure and became the Saint Louis Art Museum, most of the other Fair buildings, including the huge, very ornate palaces, were temporary.  Constructed of "staff," plaster of paris mixed with fibers, they were built to be torn down after the Fair.

The 1904 Olympics, the first Olympic games held on American soil, were centered at Washington University's Francis Field near Forest Park.

Following the Fair, the Park was restored to its original condition.  Today only two structures remain from the Fair.  They are the Art Museum and the giant Bird Cage (now home to the Cypress Swamp exhibit), which the Smithsonian Institution sold to the Zoo following the Fair.


Highlights:

- The world-famous Saint Louis Zoo is located in Forest Park.  The 79-acre attraction is widely recognized as one of the finest zoos in the world.  With more than 6,000 exotic animals, many of them rare and endangered, the Zoo's collection represents the major continents and habitats of the world.  The Zoo is also a leader in natural exhibits and an active participant in wildlife conservation.  A railroad line circles the zoo and provides visitors with an easy way to get around and view the animals.  The Rivers' Edge, one of the Zoo's newest attractions, give visitors the feel of walking along an African river and an opportunity to get up close and personal with the Zoo's hippos.  Also new at the Zoo is Penguin & Puffin Coast and a conservation carousel.  The Fragile Forest, a new habitat for Chimpanzees and Orangutans, opens in 2005.

- Some of the world's greatest works of art can be seen in the Saint Louis Art Museum, also in Forest Park.  The Museum has an extensive collection of 30,000 objects from ancient to contemporary.  Its pre-Columbian and German Expressionist collections are considered among the best in the world.  The museum's contemporary collections and its collections of arts of Africa, Oceania and the native cultures of the Americas have also helped earn the Art Museum an international reputation.  The Art Museum, designed by architect Cass Gilbert, was the Fine Arts Palace of the 1904 World's Fair. 



- The Missouri History Museum, at the western end of the Park, pays tribute to important moments in history including the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery and Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic.  The Missouri History Museum is also dedicated to documenting and interpreting the history of the St. Louis area.  The Museum was formerly known as the Jefferson Memorial.  The Missouri History Museum fabulous restaurant is situated on the top floor of the Emerson Center, with a spectacular view of Forest Park through an expansive wall of curved glass from ceiling to floor.




- The Saint Louis Science Center at the southern end of the Park is one of only two science centers in the country with no admission charge.  The Science Center has two buildings:  the main Science Center Building across from Forest Park, and the Forest Park Building (the James S. McDonnell Planetarium located on Clayton Avenue in the southeast corner of Forest Park.  The Boeing Space Station, which teaches about life in space, is located inside the Planetarium.





-  Forest Park is home to the St. Louis Municipal Opera (The MUNY), the nation's oldest and largest outdoor theatre.  Each summer, the 12,000-seat MUNY offers a season of musicals starring nationally known performers, from late June until early August.





- Two 7.5 mile paths for walking, running, biking and rollerblading circle Forest Park, one soft surface and one paved.






- The park's Steinberg Rink, offers ice skating in the colder months and a variety of outdoor activities in the summer.








- A lodge-style Boat House opened in 2003 where visitors can rent canoes and paddleboats to enjoy gliding along the park's enlarged waterways.

- Numerous picnic sites dot the landscape, and the Park is a popular place to picnic during the summer.

- Also located in the Park are an archery range, ball fields, handball courts and the Dwight Davis Tennis Center where the St. Louis Aces Team Tennis team plays each summer.

- On the south side of Forest Park at Oakland and Tamm avenues, Turtle Playground delights adults and children alike with three giant and four smaller turtles designed and sculpted by St. Louis artist Robert Cassily, owner of the City Museum.  The turtles, which visitors can climb, include a snapping turtle, a soft-shelled turtle, a red-eared slider, a Mississippi map, three box turtles and a stinkpot.  Also in the Park is a snake curled to form an area for sitting and a serpent taking a bite out of the Highway 40 overpass.  Seven large eggs, three with emerging turtles, adorn the sitting area.

- During the winter, Forest Park is a popular site for cross-country skiing, tobogganing, sledding and ice skating.  Generations of St. Louisans have made sledding down Art Hill, located on the north side of the Art Museum, a winter tradition.

- Sitting high atop Government Hill, the World's Fair Pavilion, a picturesque setting for company picnics, private receptions, benefits, special events or parties, commands a dramatic view of Forest Park.  The open-air pavilion can seat approximately 500 people.  It was built from proceeds of the 1904 World's Fair.

- One of the Park's popular features is a 27-hole golf course.  A clubhouse facility opened in December 2002.  The golf course consists of three new 9-hole courses designed by PGA pro and St. Louisan Hale Irwin.


Annual Special Events:  A classic car show is held in the Park each Easter Sunday.  Each June, the Shakespeare Festival of Saint Louis stages free outdoor performances in a natural amphitheatre near the Art Museum and the Great Forest Park Balloon Race lifts off from Forest Park the third Saturday of each September.

Saint Louis Zoo

Jewel Box

The Jewel Box is open after a $3.5 million renovation and it "glows" again.

The glass panes have been repaired and cleaned so the Jewel Box is once again the "jewel" of Forest Park.

And the jewel is bright with hundreds of flowers.  The permanent floral displays are supplemented with seasonal flowers from the city's greenhouses grown and planted by the Flora Conservatory of Forest Park, the volunteer gardening group, and the Horticulture Section of the Parks Division.

The Jewel Box is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday; 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday.  Admission is $1 but it is free from 9 a.m. to noon on Monday and Tuesday.

The renovation included removing all of the old plants and trees and reconfiguring the planting areas to the sides of the building, leaving the interior free.

Gone are the trees that climbed to the top of the building, obscuring the light.  Now the Jewel Box is flooded with sunlight that pours in through the top tiers of glass and illuminates the plants below.

The interior area includes a large fountain and water feature that can be removed for weddings and other events.  Large pots line both sides of the pond and baskets of plants hang from the ceiling.

The renovation of the Jewel Box included replacing the mechanical systems, improving the floral display area and adding a catering area so the building can be rented for wedding receptions, corporate meetings and parties.  There is a new heating and air conditioning system so it will be comfortable inside in the coldest and hottest weather.

The Jewel Box, located on a 17-acre site in Forest Park, was built by the City of St. Louis in 1936 and is operated by the Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry.

It is listed on the National H