Forest Park

Skinker at Lindell
St. Louis, MO

Submitted by: Mary Warren

A glorious and beautiful urban park.

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Why It Works

Forest Park, opened in 1876 and the site of one of the greatest and most historic of World's Fairs in 1904, is 1,370 acres (500 more than Central Park in New York) of the most beautiful landscape of forestry, greenery, lakes, ponds, bridges and wildlife. Over 12 million visitors each year at Forest Park enjoy visiting the Saint Louis Zoo, one of the country's finest zoos; the Missouri History Museum; the Mark C. Steinberg Memorial Skating Rink (for ice skating in the winter and roller skating in the summer); the Saint Louis Science Center; the Jewel Box (an art-deco style conservatory surrounded by rose gardens, lily ponds, statuary and monuments); Aviation Field, where Charles Lindbergh flew mail from St. Louis to Chicago before he flew his solo flight; the Muny (outdoor musical theatre); the Boat House (where one can take Gondola rides); the Saint Louis Art Museum; the Dwight F. Davis (of the Davis Cup) Tennis Center; a myriad of picnic sites; bike and running paths; and more. Free admission is available at all the sites, thus allowing the most financially strapped of families to enjoy great art, history, and science. Forest Park boasts Shakespeare in the Park in June, the Great Forest Park Balloon Race in September, and will offer this year for the first time hay rides beginning in October. The steep and wonderful hill in front of the Art Museum is affectionately called Art Hill by all native St. Louisans, and every winter hundreds of sledders show up when snow blankets the ground for the great sledding down Art Hill, followed by the great trek back up. It's a meeting place for everyone of every economic background who wants to have good, clean, free family fun and entertainment.

What Makes Forest Park a Great Place?

The Park can sometimes be breathtakingly overwhelming, with the winding roads leading to all its special venues. Bike and running/walking paths wind around the perimeter and through the interior of the park. Rollerbladers and skateboarders are out everyday with the bikers, hikers and runners. Golfers in their golf-carts travel the huge course. MetroLink does stop across from Forest Park, and shuttle buses are available for special events - such as the Muny season - to take theatre-goers from the parking lots on a quick jaunt to the Muny. Sidewalks and trails are all throughout the park, as are wide streets allowing parking and traffic to flow smoothly. The Park is accessible on all sides, with several entrances on each side. Forest Park is ten minutes from downtown St. Louis.

Forest Park is undergoing a monumental face-lift. A $90 million project, funded by the citizens of St. Louis and the City, is underway to restore and renovate the Park to its original glory. Fragmented lakes, lagoons and ponds will be transformed into a "river-like" flowing water system to promote better water quality, less flooding, and a self-sustaining park environment. The diversity of Forest Park attracts men, women and children in equal proportions. Picnic tables, park benches, and just a piece of grass with a blanket on it provides every kind of rest and relaxation possible in an urban park. The various venues in Forest Park offer small restaurants and eateries, with inside and outside tables. The park is cleaned by a very small but mighty City crew, and volunteers join in to help keep the Park beautiful. The St. Louis Mounted Police have their headquarters in Forest Park and, if ever necessary, are moments away to assist visitors. Good lighting allows folks to walk or ride through the Park after dark with seemingly no trepidation.

There's not a day goes by when there aren't people, people, people in Forest Park. Fishing attracts the grandpas and grandsons, who stand shoulder to shoulder. Educational programs for teachers to use with their students are offered at Forest Park, enabling the Park to be used in a positive and reinforcing educational manner for youngsters to appreciate the delicate balance of ecology and nature in an urban setting.

Many companies and organizations in the metropolitan area choose Forest Park for their annual picnics and awards ceremonies. Weddings take place in the many venues throughout the Park, and sometimes just out in the open underneath the canopy of trees. The surrounding areas of Forest Park house upper and lower income families, and you'll find every ethnic and economic family in Forest Park enjoying all it has to offer. People who live in the metropolitan St. Louis area bring out-of-town visitors to Forest Park, proud to display all the showcases Forest Park has. Many people donate funds to Forest Park Forever even after they've moved away from the area. The memories of St. Louisans' in Forest Park while growing up last a life time, and they are very generous in their support of the Park.

History & Background

There are many athletic fields for various sports and games, and on any given weekend one can enjoy playing or watching softball, football, cricket, rugby, tennis, golf, archery, lacrosse, or soccer. Early spring brings the Antique Car Show, Kite Festival and other events welcoming the warm weather. The Great Forest Park Balloon Race is the offical, but not final, farewell to the summer featuring the Energizer Bunny Balloon leading the many colorful and unusual hot-air balloons in a Great Race over a defined race track in the sky! Back on the ground, trees well over 100 years old can be found throughout the Park, along with several fragile ecosystems.

Contact Info:

Forest Park Forever, 5595 Grand Drive in Forest Park, St. Louis, MO 63112-1095; 314-367-7275
Department of Parks, Recreation and Forestry, 5600 Clayton Avenue in Forest Park, St. Louis, MO 63110

User Comments:

> Add your own comment about Forest Park

08/28/02 Warren Rosenblum said:: Forest Park is barely deserving of the title "park." It's a complex of roads, parking spaces, and golf courses with a few miserable paths in-between. What other city would set aside so much public space in such a central location for a few idiots in golf carts? To even mention NYC's Central Park in the same sentence as Forest Park is preposterous. One is a temple to walking, contemplation, public interaction, chance meetings. The other is a temple to the well-healed suburbanites who come hurdling in in their SUV's, park conveniently, see the things or play the games and then take off. What a waste. Fortunately, St. Louis has Tower Grove Park, which is silent, simple, glorious but underutilized. Forest Park, by trying to offer something for everyone, is horribly diminished.
11/20/02 Ted LaBoube said:: Forest Park is home to many of the great institutions of St. Louis. The St. Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, the St. Louis Zoo, the Municipal Opera, and the Jewel Box. Most everything in Forest Park is free to the public, which makes it a destination for families from all over the St. Louis metropolitan region. Right now Forest Park is undergoing a massive restoration which will bring it back to its former glory. Forest Park is amazing due to its many uses, and its ability to draw people from all walks of life. I've used Forest Park all my life, and have gone to the many attractions that are within it. I have played sports there, and skated there in the winter at Steinberg rink. It is a park that has been built to be used by everyone in as many ways as the mind can imagine, and that is the beauty of Forest Park.
12/30/02 Nick Kasoff said:: I have lived near Forest Park on a couple of occasions during my time in St. Louis, and am delighted to live a few blocks away now. The bike trail has provided a wonderful place for me to take my son, who is just learning how to ride. The sense of community there is real (people actually greet strangers and talk!), something I never experienced during my journeys to Creve Coeur Lake, a suburban park with a similar bicycle trail, in days gone by. While I have no use for golf, the golf course is a nicely landscaped area, which provides decent scenery. And the presence of many of our city's cultural amenities in Forest Park is another bonus.
04/09/03 Lori Lippert said:: Forest Park is near and dear to my heart, even though I haven't lived in St. Louis for 25 years. No, Forest Park isn't Central Park, but St. Louis isn't New York. Different parks for different communities/histories. Significantly, unlike Central Park, Forest Park is not surrounded by, and easily accessed by residential neighborhoods. That, sadly, is a drawback to Forest Park. That said, FP has many wonderful places within it (too numerous to list here) and is a huge green oasis in the middle of St. Louis. It also has an interesting history, being the site of the 1904 World's Fair which itself was a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Lewis and Clark expedition. Partly in celebration of its 100th anniversary, the park it has undergone an extensive renovation. The amount of private money and volunteer effort that has gone into this huge project is a testimony to how well loved the park is by the people of St. Louis.
04/17/03 Keith Belk said:: I take great exception to the first writer's comments. Granted, parts of the park got dog-eared before the recent massive renovation, but it has always been a destination for many activities. I am 53 and have enjoyed the park my entire life. We spent many wonderful times there growing up, as did our kids.
Keith Belk, Urban Activist
06/04/03 Lee Anna Good said:: The great beauty of Forest Park is the fact that it is large enough to accommodate everything from a 150 acre urban Forest to 27-holes of public golf; wetlands, savannas and prairies to formal landscapes. The $90 million Forest Park master plan, currently in the implementation phase, came about after a two-year public process where everyone, from environmentalists to golfers, was afforded their say. The result was a plan that resulted in no net loss of green space and a massive restoration of the infrastructure, historic structures, roads, walking paths, ball fields, landscapes, and yes, golf courses. Perhaps most significant is the fact that a river that ran through the park prior to the World's Fair (forced underground for the fair) is returning to Forest Park--recirculating to provide for better water quality, wildlife habitats, and aesthetic enhancement, in addition to being stocked for fishing. The golf course in Forest Park is the home course to hundreds of St. Louisans who can't afford a private club. It, like Forest Park itself, is a place where the people of St. Louis come together regardless of race, age, or economic circumstance. Forest Park is truly the soul of the City, and the region would be a much lesser place if City fathers had not had the vision to create this 1,370 acre oasis in 1876. Right now it is experiencing a renaissance. Thanks to the generosity of the people of St. Louis, by 2004 Forest Park will have been fully restored through one of the most successful public/private partnerships to be found.