St. Louis Parks, Second Edition

St. Louisans are rich with the gifts they have inherited from their civic ancestors. Foremost among these gifts are the public parks-city parks, county parks, state parks, and the Gateway Arch National Park. The creation of these phenomenal parks and park systems began in 1836 with the dedication of 30 acres for Lafayette Park. With this first public park west of the Mississippi, the leadership in early St. Louis demonstrated their commitment to the then radical new public park movement. One hundred and eighty years later, St. Louis parks-from pocket parks to extensive Victorian landscapes, and from pristine forests and glades to the landscape that is the backdrop for the Gateway Arch-are national treasures. St. Louis Parks evokes the unique character and history of the individual parks in the St. Louis region and visualizes the need for green spaces, whether to provide an escape to the beauty of nature or for a place to come together as a community.

NiNi Harris’s earliest memory is of an early autumn evening, picking up acorns as she and her father walked along Bellerive Boulevard to Bellerive Park. Her great-great-grandfather’s first job when he arrived in St. Louis in 1864 was planting trees in a St. Louis park. She has spent her career researching and writing about St. Louis’s parks, architecture, and ethnic neighborhoods and communities. Her books include histories of the Civil War years in St. Louis, the Polish heritage of St. Louis, Black St. Louis, the St. Louis Hills neighborhood, and Downtown St. Louis.