Still Beautiful at 140 Years Old: Happy Birthday, Forest Park
On June 24, 1876, the opening day and dedication of Forest Park, the St. Louis Post Dispatch declared, “The forest is indescribable in its loveliness. The large trees stand as nature planted them, their long branches spreading over the roadways and beautiful swards, in which the cool winds play and sing with invigorating grace to those who seek these spots as a retreat from the oppressive heat of the city.” Forest Park, the “wild woods” that skirted the borders of St. Louis had been developed into the finest driving and promenade boulevard in the world at the time.
While Forest Park is home to many attractions such as the Saint Louis Zoo, the Saint Louis Science Center, the Missouri History Museum and The Muny, it still boasts a natural beauty with its meadows and trees, ponds, lakes and streams, and restored prairie and wetland areas.
The love and appreciation of our “heart of the city” in 2016 easily rivals that of the St. Louisans in 1876. Forest Park still provides all who visit a “profusion of grandeur unparalled.”
We in the Division of Nephrology at Washington University are very lucky to have Forest Park just steps away from us. Map of Forest Park , June 24, 1876 Post Dispatch Clipping.
View of Forest Part from the 17th Floor of Queeny Tower Restaurant at Barnes-Jewish Hospital