Forest Park (St. Louis)

Forest Park is a public park in western St. Louis, Missouri. It is a prominent civic center and covers .

Since the early 2000s, it has carried out a $100 million restoration through a public-private partnership aided by its Master Plan. Changes have extended to improving landscaping and habitat as well. The park's acreage includes meadows and trees and a variety of ponds, manmade lakes, and freshwater streams. For several years, the park has been restoring prairie and wetlands areas of the park. It has reduced flooding and attracted a much greater variety of birds and wildlife, which have settled in the new natural habitats.

History

Early proposals

An 1864 plan for a large park in the city limits was rejected by St. Louis voters. In 1872, St. Louis developer Hiram Leffingwell proposed a park about outside the city limits near land which he owned. After a period of intense lobbying by Leffingwell, the Missouri General Assembly authorized the city to purchase the land; however, city taxpayers challenged the purchase in court, and in 1873, the Missouri Supreme Court overturned the authorization. In November 1874, the Missouri Supreme Court upheld the new law and referred all questions of land ownership and value to the circuit court. The largest parcels of land needed for the park belonged to Thomas Skinker, Charles P. Chouteau, Julia Maffitt, and William Forsyth, who in 1874 and 1875 sold their land to the city.

The state of the parkland in 1876 was rural: on the eastern and western edges of the park were unpaved roads (Kingshighway and Skinker Road, respectively). Flowing through the northern lowlands and turning southeast in the park was the River des Peres, which at times was very low while in some seasons could flood large areas. The southwestern part of the park was heavily forested land, and the east-west Clayton Road ran through the southern part of the park. A railroad right-of-way cut through the northeast corner of the park.

Maximillian G. Kern and Julius Pitzman, the Prussian-born St. Louis surveyor, designed the park's original plan. The park was dedicated June 24, 1876, with a crowd of about 50,000 in attendance. Officials and a band occupied a music stand and podium, and dedicated a statue of Edward Bates, the attorney general under President Abraham Lincoln. By the early 1890s, streetcar lines reached the park, carrying nearly 3 million visitors a year. A zoological gardens had been established around 1876 in Fairgrounds Park, on the north side of the city; its animals were eventually transferred to the new Forest Park facility.

From the beginning officials sought public transportation to the park. Several routes were evaluated. It was not electric streetcars, but rather cable cars that first gave access to Forest Park. Erastus Wells' Missouri Railway was a cable car line (then known as a "cable road") that ran down Olive Street. It was extended in stages. Access to Lindell Blvd was denied, but a route down Boyle to Maryland and then to Kingshighway was approved. Service began June 1, 1889.

Louisiana Purchase Exposition

left|thumb|Map of the 1904 World's Fair, held in Forest Park

In 1901, Forest Park was selected as the location of the 1904 World's Fair, known as the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The fair opened April 30, 1904, and closed December 1, 1904, and it left the park vastly different. In addition to the fair, the park hosted the diving, swimming, and water polo events for the 1904 Summer Olympics. Fifteen sports offered Olympic competition events, but women could compete only in archery. The 1904 Games were the first time that African Americans were allowed to compete.

George Kessler, the fair's landscape architect, dramatically changed the park: the wetlands areas in the western part of the park were drained and converted into water features and five connected lakes. Sewer and water lines installed during the fair remained for public use in the park. After the fair, thousands of trees were planted and vistas were created. In addition to art displays, many novelties were showcased for the first time at the Fair. Electricity, still considered young at the time, was showcased in a number of ways. Attendees at the Fair were awestruck by the electric lighting, both inside and out, of all of the important buildings and roads. The electrical plug and the wall outlet were also displayed. Two of the more notable technological achievements demonstrated were the x-ray machine and the baby incubator.

River des Peres

At one time the River des Peres ran openly through the park, but due to sanitary concerns, a portion was put underground in a wooden box shortly before the 1904 World's Fair. In the 1930s, the portion of the River des Peres that runs through Forest Park was diverted entirely underground in huge concrete pipes. More recently, an artificial waterscape linking park lakes has been created. The river remains underground in the park.

Since the 2000s, the park has restored numerous areas of prairie and wetlands in the park; these new habitats are serving not only to reduce flooding, but to attract a greatly increased variety of birds and wildlife. They provide a richer experience for walkers and bikers in the park, and the restored areas are full of birdsong.

Hospital lease controversy

In 1973, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, located across Kingshighway from the eastern edge of the park, leased an area of land in Forest Park located to its south for construction of an underground parking garage. After construction was complete, the surface was restored and a playground was installed; in 1983, the lease was extended to 2050 and the garage was expanded to more than 1,900 spaces. Starting in 2006, the hospital engaged the city to renegotiate the lease to allow for the construction of a building on the site, known as Hudlin Park (although part of Forest Park). In the February 2007 revised proposal the hospital also agreed to retain 15 percent of the land as green space. An activist group called Citizens to Protect Forest Park gathered 28,000 signatures to place a ballot measure that would require citywide voter approval of all leases or sales of park land. In 2022, Forest Park was named the nation's best city park in the annual USA Today Readers' Choice Awards. The park has a diverse patronage, including tourists and local visitors, visitors to park institutions, and special event patrons, with roughly one third of patrons living within of the park, another third between 10 and , and another third living beyond from the park. To remedy the problem, traffic has been redirected away from the Hampton park entrance and trolley-replica buses have been used to shuttle patrons.

Forest Park hosts several annual St. Louis cultural or entertainment events, including the Great Forest Park Balloon Race (a hot air balloon competition), LouFest Music Festival (August 27–28, 2011), the Shakespeare Festival of St. Louis, the St. Louis Earth Day Festival, and the St. Louis African Arts Festival. The annual St. Louis Wine Festival, Beer Heritage Festival, and St. Louis Micro-Fest (a microbrewery showcase festival) also are hosted in Forest Park. and a variety of run-walk fundraisers.

Fair St. Louis was held for the first time here in 2014, due to renovations at the Gateway Arch grounds, which presents new opportunities for the fair. The fair got off to a smooth start on July 3.

Features

St. Louis's Forest Park is considered one of the largest urban parks in the United States. It is approximately 500 acres larger than New York City's Central Park. Forest Park is home to five of the region's major institutions: the St. Louis Art Museum, the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Science Center, the Missouri History Museum, and the Muny amphitheater. It has several recreational facilities, including the Dwight Davis Tennis Center, the Steinberg Skating Rink, the Boathouse Restaurant (with boat rentals), the Forest Park Golf Course, the Highlands Golf and Tennis Center, handball courts, and fields for softball, baseball, soccer, cricket, rugby, and archery. The park also features over 30 miles of walking and cycling paths. In 2010, the zoo attracted 2.9 million visitors to its collection of more than 18,000 animals. The zoo is divided into five animal zones: the River's Edge, which includes elephants, cheetahs, and hyenas; The Wild, which includes penguins, bears, and great apes; Discovery Zone, which includes a petting zoo; Red Rocks, which features lions, tigers, and other big cats; and the oldest part of the zoo, Historic Hill, which features the 1904 Flight Cage, a herpetarium, and primate house. A sixth zoo zone, known as Lakeside Crossing, features several dining and retail options.

Saint Louis Science Center

The Saint Louis Science Center, across Interstate 64 on the southern edge of Forest Park, received slightly more than a million visitors in 2010. In addition to the Orthwein StarBay planetarium show featuring more than 9,000 stars on an ceiling, the facility offers exhibits about living in space. It also hosts monthly public stargazing events co-sponsored by the St. Louis Astronomical Society.

Missouri History Museum

thumb|right|The Missouri History Museum opened in Forest Park in 1913.

The Missouri History Museum, located on the northern edge of the park, received slightly more than 500,000 visitors in 2010 to both its permanent and temporary exhibits. and the 1904 World's Fair, Looking Back at Looking Forward, an exhibit of artifacts from the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. The museum had a 16-ton statue of Thomas Jefferson sculpted by Karl Bitter, which was unveiled at the opening of the museum in 1913. The museum completed a major expansion in 2000, with the addition of the Emerson Center, a building with of exhibition space, the Lee Auditorium, a 350-seat theater, and space for retail and dining options. The building, designed by Cass Gilbert, houses a comprehensive art museum with particular depth in Oceanic art, Pre-Columbian art, ancient Chinese bronzes, and 20th-century German art.

The museum began an expansion and renovation project in January 2010 under the direction of architect David Chipperfield. The construction relocated surface parking underneath the addition and created a new lower-level gallery, with a total of more than of new building area which allows display of more of the collection. The first production, As You Like It by William Shakespeare, predated the current building by one year; as part of an advertising convention, St. Louis constructed the Municipal Theatre in 1917.

Turtle Park

Turtle Park is a sculpture park created by Bob Cassilly located at Oakland Avenue and Tamm Avenue. The park contains concrete sculptures of seven turtle species that are indigenous to Missouri, a clutch of eggs and a snake. The three large turtles are a snapping turtle, a Mississippi map turtle and a red-eared slider and the four smaller turtles are a stinkpot turtle and three box turtles. The snapping turtle is 40-foot long and used 120,000 pounds of concrete. The facility offers tennis training programs, and sponsors tournaments. It hosts the St. Louis Aces, a local tennis singles team, who play in the 1,100-seat Stadium Court. Since the opening of Forest Park in 1876, boating has been an activity in the park; in 1894, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch paid more than 6,000 workers to expand one of the lakes in the park. In the early 2000s, a new boathouse opened with access to both Post-Dispatch Lake and the Grand Basin at the foot of Art Hill. On the island is the Nathan Frank Bandstand, which was built using funds donated by local businessman Nathan Frank in 1926. Designed by Eames and Young, the Visitor Center is in the Spanish Revival style. In 1904, it was occupied by tenants of the World's Fair.

Steinberg Skating Rink

The Steinberg Skating Rink opened in November 1957 after a donation by the Steinberg Charitable Trust. Etta Steinberg, the wife of Mark C. Steinberg, gave more than $600,000 toward the $935,000 cost of the rink.

During the early 2000s, the rink underwent a $1.4 million renovation that included a new rink surface, an ice-making system, and a new light and sound system. The original course was designed by Scotsman Robert Foulis, an employee of the Old Course at St Andrews, while a second and third set of nine holes were finished in 1913 and 1915. The three rebuilt courses are named for trees in St. Louis: the Hawthorn is a relatively flat and walkable layout; the Dogwood is a somewhat hilly course with a water fairway; and the Redbud is very hilly and the most challenging layout of the three.

Highlands Golf and Tennis Center

The Highlands Golf and Tennis Center, formerly known as Triple A Golf and Tennis Club, opened in 1897 on the site of the current Forest Park Golf Course; in 1902, the course moved to a facility near the southeast corner of Forest Park due to the construction of the 1904 World's Fair. The new facility included a nine-hole golf course, tennis, handball and volleyball courts, a running track, and baseball and lacrosse fields. In the early 2000s, the lakes were drained, deepened, aerated and restocked with fish. Kennedy Forest features hiking trails maintained by the Missouri Department of Conservation, while Kennedy Woods includes a walking path through wildflowers and native Missouri plants. The original Cabanne House was built in 1819 by Jean Pierre Cabanné, a French Creole fur trader and merchant. His descendants used it as a farmhouse until they sold the land to the city in 1875.

The City Beautification Commission repaired the building and occupied it for office space beginning in 1967. In 1985, the building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places for its architectural significance.

thumb|right|The [[Apotheosis of St. Louis, a statue of French King Louis IX]]

The Apotheosis of St. Louis, located at the north entrance of the St. Louis Art Museum, is a bronze sculpture of an armored and mounted King Louis IX of France, preparing for battle. The Confederate monument was removed from the park in 2017 to be relocated elsewhere.

The National Federation of Musicians donated funds for the Musicians Memorial and Fountain to honor Owen Miller and Otto Ostendorf, members of the federation.

The Brickline Greenway was known as the Chouteau Greenway prior to March 10, 2020.

References

External links

St. Louis Convention & Visitors Commission Fact Sheet on Forest Park
Forest Park Map (pdf)
Website for Forest Park (urban park located roughly on the site of the fair)