The park has seen much investment and hard work over the years.  There is an active park committee dedicated to improving the park.  This used to be not such a nice place, it is getting better year after year as more eyes/ears and sweat equity are directed toward the park, the center of this great neighborhood.

The park was placed into ordinance in 1917 when the city took over the property after one of St. Louis' worst fires in its history took the lives of 10 people including 7 firemen.  

This is a beautiful park.  One of my favorites.  And you can't help but draw the comparison of O'Fallon Park to Carondelet Park as both have popular fishing lakes, extensive paved walking trails, picnic places, a wooden home, similar boathouses, nearly identical service buildings and massive modern Recreational Complexes. 

The park was placed into ordinance in 2004 per the city website.  While the city website does not list a location, accurate map or correct neighborhood (the say this is within Baden).

It is fitting to re-post some of the information about Fr. Filipiak from that previous post as he was the one person who saved the church from the Archdioscese wrecking ball (a mighty and still active wrecking ball indeed.

Okay, in visiting and blogging on all 108 St. Louis parks I've come across another mystery.  The city website lists Tambo Park, a 1 acre park at Rutger and Ohio Avenues in the Gate District neighborhood as being placed into ordinance in 1985. Google maps has it listed here...

Named in honor of Charlotte Rumbold, superintendent of public playgrounds and recreation in the St. Louis Parks Department from 1906 to 1915.  That is just the tip of the iceberg in Ms. Rumbold's distinguished life.

The park was named after David Hickey, the first St. Louisan to lose his life in WWI.  Per the city website:

Dedicated April 10, 1941 and named in honor of David Hickey, the first St. Louisian who gave his life for his country in the World War in the Battle of the Toul Sector, February 24, 1918. (source)

This park space was nothing but a mowed patch of land before Great Rivers Greenway constructed the amazing ~1 mile Christy Greenway that runs through the park.  This is a series of paved bike/pedestrian trails that are part of the larger River Des Peres Greenway...

This park is really a narrow strip of land along the western edge of the city as well as some islands of land in sections where River Des Peres Boulevard splits.  The land in between the north and southbound lanes of River Des Peres should really be no-mow, not unlike much of the easements of I-255 in Illinois.

I believe the park is actually an extension of greenspace connecting Christy Park with the River Des Peres Park.  This is corroborated by the Joe Leisure park signs located at Christy and Gravois and Christy and Holly Hills...

I used to live near here for years, so this review will have some personal perspective.  For instance, there are red tailed hawks and fox that hunt in this area.  I cannot seem to find the proof, but I am convinced this part of the city was either a former landfill or common dumping grounds; or maybe when the cemetery was abandoned, it was filled and graded with crude fill dirt.  Why?

W.C. Handy spent time in St. Louis around 1893; enough time to inspire one of his best known works: "St. Louis Blues", one of the first blues songs to succeed as a pop song. The song was published in 1914 by Handy's own company. The song gained so much popularity that it inspired the dance step the Foxtrot.

This park is great for two reasons.  First, of all the parks, this one has the best relationship with and access to the Mississippi River.  This is the spot most popular with fishermen.  Guys drive and walk right up to the banks and fish for mainly buffalo.  This local delicacy, usually fried as described to me by the guy I talked to.  You cast with heavy test line and poles that look like they are intended for the ocean.  These fish get big.

The park was named in the honor of Captain Charlton H. Tandy.  Per the State Historical Society of Missouri, Tandy was born a free black man in Kentucky and went on to great things, serving in the Missouri Militia during the Civil War and a respected member of the Republican Party and civil rights activist.

This park is in an improving area just south of some really, really nice urban new construction just east on MLK Drive called Arlington Grove.  This is a great example of urban infill that is sensitive to its surroundings.

Per the Lindenwood Park Neighborhood Website:

Here is a history of Lindenwood Park as relayed by Mr. and Mrs. Schneidewind of the 6600 block of Pernod.

 

Lindenwood Park did not exist until after the 1955 bond issue. Then it was a four-block-long by one-block-wide area of woods with sinkholes and kids’ club houses.

This rather large, 29 acre park is a staple of the surrounding areas.  In fact, there is a volunteer association established for the park.  It's called the Tilles Park Neighborhood Association and you can read all about their concerted efforts here.

Per the city website, the park was named in honor of Richard H. Amberg (1912 1967) for his personal distinction and his contributions to the parks and playgrounds of the city. Mr. Amberg also served as publisher of the Globe Democrat for a number of years. (source)

The park was placed into ordinance in 1975 and is the result of housing clearance in the late 1950's.  The park used to be pretty tired and abused looking.  Recently, it has seen an amazing transformation by the Great Rivers Greenway organization.  Funded through a tax increase voted on by the people of St. Louis and surrounding small towns in the suburbs of St. Louis County and St. Charles County to create the Great Rivers Greenway District, this pedestrian/bike trail is absolutely fantastic.

The park was named after J. Milton Turner a leader in the areas of African American education, civil rights, and foreign diplomacy during the decades after the Civil War. 

This 2.35 acre park was placed into ordinance in 1968 and it totally has the feel of a late 60's early 70's park.  The park is across Hamilton Avenue from a massive surface parking lot formerly serving the shuttered 1960's era Cook Elementary school, now occupied by West End Mount Carmel Community Services.  This school was closed in 2004 leaving another gap in an increasingly abandoned part of the city.

Previously it was a grass field.  Per a 2010 article by Sarah Fenske in the Riverfront Times, Taylor Park was formerly the CWE Dog Park.  The city obtained development rights of the site as part of a recent deal that allowed Barnes Jewish Hospital to take over Hudlin Park, which was technically part of Forest Park, but located across Kingshighway Boulevard to the east.  You may remember the park that included tennis courts and playground equipment. (source)

Per the city website, the park was originally the site of the old Gamble Reservoir, Norman Seay Park was acquired by the Park system from the City Water Department in 1874. During the 1930's, a Gamble Recreation Center was built and the Park is now used as a playground (source).

This 3.36 acre park was placed into ordinance in 1963 and sits just south of Vashon High School.

The park is bordered by Cabanne Avenue to the north, Belt Avenue to the west, Arlington Avenue to the east (roughly) and Clemens Place to the south and is located in the Visitation Park Neighborhood.

This park can accurately be described as a pocket park based on the small, irregular strip of land that it was built upon.  The sliver of space is between Olive Street and Washington Avenue, just east of Kingshighway.
 

Per the city website, this tract of land was donated to St. Louis by the late St. Louis Architect, Ernest J. Russell who was a world renowned architect of his time. He was president of the American Institute of Architects and an Honarary Corresponding Member of the Rotyal Institue of British Architects. Not too shabby, eh?

70 acres of Willmore Park was donated by Cyrus Crane Willmore.  Mr. Willmore was a prominent St. Louis developer, responsible for many suburban sub-divisions in University City, Webster Groves and Normandy.  His main St. Louis contributions were Kingshighway Hills (now in the North Hampton neighborhood) and St. Louis Hills.

Since the park is so small, I'll focus on Marie Fowler herself who was was a prominent community leader and advocate for disadvantaged folks in this part of town. 

The park was part of the "urban renewal" that cleared the buildings, homes and businesses for green space from 22nd street to the Mississippi River.

The park is framed by some St. Louis classics including Union Station, Peabody Opera House, Soldier's Memorial Military Museum and the St. Louis Law School.
 

This 1.9 acre park, dedicated in 1962, is a connector of sorts between the Gateway Arch on the Mississippi riverfront and the Gateway Mall, a series of several parks along Market Street in the Downtown and Downtown West Neighborhoods.  The park takes its name from Harry J. Kiener...

Eternal Flame Park is one of a series of six parks along Market Street in the Downtown West Neighborhood.  Working west from Tucker Boulevard and Market Street you have Poelker Park, Washington Square Park and Kaufmann Park, then Memorial Plaza Park/Gateway Mall Plaza (including Eternal Flame Park and the one across from the Park Pacific which is not listed on the city website), Serra Sculpture Park, Aloe Plaza and Aloe Plaza West.  The beautiful and peaceful Soldier's Memorial Military Museum is also part of this stretch of land and I will include that in a separate post.

The Serra Sculpture Park is one of a series of six parks along Market Street in the Downtown West Neighborhood.  Working west from Tucker Boulevard and Market Street you have Poelker Park, Washington Square Park and Kaufmann Park, then Memorial Plaza Park (including Eternal Flame Park and the one across from the Park Pacific which is not listed on the city website), Aloe Plaza and Aloe Plaza West.  The beautiful and peaceful Soldier's Memorial Military Museum is also part of this stretch of land and I will include that in a separate post.

Washington Square Park is one of a series of six parks along Market Street in the Downtown West Neighborhood.  Working west from Tucker Boulevard and Market Street you have Poelker Park, Washington Square Park and Kaufmann Park, then Memorial Plaza Park (including Eternal Flame Park and the one across from the Park Pacific which is not listed on the city website), Aloe Plaza and Aloe Plaza West.  The beautiful and peaceful Soldier's Memorial Military Museum is also part of this stretch of land and I will include that in a separate post.

Kaufmann Park is one of a series of six parks along Market Street in the Downtown West Neighborhood.  Working west from Tucker Boulevard and Market Street you have Poelker Park, Washington Square Park and Kaufmann Park, then Memorial Plaza Park (including Eternal Flame Park and the one across from the Park Pacific which is not listed on the city website), Aloe Plaza and Aloe Plaza West.  The beautiful and peaceful Soldier's Memorial Military Museum is also part of this stretch of land and I will include that in a separate post.

Poelker Park is one of a series of six parks along Market Street in the Downtown West Neighborhood.  Working west from Tucker Boulevard and Market Street you have Poelker Park, Washington Square Park and Kaufman Park, then Memorial Plaza Park (including Eternal Flame Park and the one across from the Park Pacific which is not listed on the city website), Aloe Plaza and Aloe Plaza West.  The beautiful and peaceful Soldier's Memorial Military Museum is also part of this stretch of land and I will include that in a separate post.

According to the book, “From Village to Neighborhood: A History of Old North St. Louis” by Miranda Rabus Rectenwald and Andrew Hurley, “Jackson Place, dedicated as a recreational park, is the second oldest park in all of St. Louis.” (source)

The park is located in the shadow of some of St. Louis' most beautiful buildings, the Shell Building and the Central Library that recently underwent a $70M renovation.

I couldn't find any information on who Loretta Hall is, or her story.  Please contact me if you know.  So, instead I'll share some info on William C. Carr.

The 0.71 acre park was placed into ordinance in 1977 and is just south of the Post-Dispatch and north of the St. Patrick Center (homeless services).

This is one of the special places among the 108 city parks.  The neighbors have fully embraced this park by creating the Lafayette Park Conservancy, a group tasked with forming and implementing a master plan for this gem of the city.

This is a beautiful park that has seen some recent investment including a jogging path with exercise equipment, trees and a really nice pavilion with BBQ grills. 

Today the park has tennis courts visible from Arsenal, multi-purpose fields for softball/soccer.

The best thing about this park is it has soccer goals, so neighbors use this park for recreational and organized youth soccer practice.

The 2.3 acre park was placed into ordinance in 1974.

It pains me to see how bad this part of the city is.  Burn outs, board ups and trashed/falling properties are more common here than anywhere else I've seen in the city.

There is no park sign or anything else really, just a cut-through and a trash can and a sign that says "no fun here folks"...

Placed into ordinance in 1980, this 1.1 acre park is a gem.  It is laid out nicely, but just needs some more respect and love from the neighborhood.

It was placed into ordinance in 1937 and is within the LaSalle Neighborhood.  The park is just south and west of the Nestle Purina campus, known to most in the area.
 

The park was placed into ordinance in 1945 and was named in honor of Dr. Robert James Terry, a man well known nationally and locally for his contributions to medical literature. He was also one of the founders of the association which later became the St. Louis Audubon Society (source).

The park has a few places to sit and watch the barges go by and there were lights installed, most destroyed.
 

The park has a beautiful setting in the shadow of the dual steeples of St. Anthony of Padua on Meramec Street. 

The oddest thing about this park is it predates the nearby Minnie Wood Memorial Square just a block to the east by 113 years.  It is almost like Minnie Wood got all the resources and Laclede Park was completely abandoned.  Nothing exists in Laclede Park.  Nothing.

The city website calls the park Minniewood Park (one word), yet it is actually named after a woman, Minnie Wood, and is called Minnie Wood Memorial Square in honor of this charitable woman. 

The park is located in a pocket of the neighborhood that faces the backs and alleys of the surrounding homes.  That makes the park have kind of an awkward view of dumpsters and garages as opposed to front porches.

The "park" has been around since 1924 but you wouldn't know it.  I'm not sure if the construction of Interstate 55 wiped the park clean of its former state, or what but there is just simply nothing here.
 

It is hard not to love the potential of Broadway.  This could be our French Quarter if there was ever vision and money to make it happen. 

This park is beautiful.  It has a gazebo, fountain, lake, service building (closed) and playgrounds.

This is one of those city parks that I think should be embraced by the charter school.  They could use it for outdoor education.  If charter schools were public vs. private/non-profit entities, the park property could be given to the school.

The park was placed into ordinance in 1947 and was named after Adelaide M. Windsor, whom I cannot seem to find any info on.  Please send me a note if you have any info on Ms. Windsor. Thanks to reader Tom Herrmann, a link was shared that names Adelaide Windsor (1877-1940) as the founder of the Child Conservation Conference of St. Louis, and a former school in the Boulevard Heights neighborhood was named in her honor (source). Thanks Tom!

The park gets its name from Ray Leisure, relation of the Middle Eastern (Lebanese, Syrian) local political/crime figures (along with the current Mayor Slay's family) who were involved in several car bombings, high ranking union jobs and various gangster rackets.

As with most park visits, I try to share my thoughts and dreams about what I'd do to immediately improve a park.  For my Compton Reservoir Park post, I chose to focus on the dilapidated tennis courts and the weird service building covered in ivy and surrounded by fence.

The park is named after the ardent Unionist Brigadier-General Nathaniel Lyon who fortified the St. Louis Arsenal, now the sight of the U.S. mapping facility.

The park was placed into ordinance in 1908 and is bordered by 9th Street to the east, Ann Avenue to the north, 10th Street to the west and Shenandoah Avenue to the south.  It is located in the Soulard Neighborhood. A one-acre park seems perfect for this location and there are densely packed homes surrounding the park, giving it a private, neighborhood-y feel.

This park is in the shadow of the awesome Soulard Market and is probably familiar to most St. Louisans.

The park was placed into ordinance in 1908 and is at the corner of 7th Street and Lafayette Avenue.

There's something I really like about these mid-century parks.  They are heavy on the concrete and feel very urban.  Makes me want to break out the Vision Gator and skate like its 1979.  The 1960's parks don't as much seek to provide a green space, natural getaway as much as they intend to be a city park, a complement to their surroundings.  Heck, even the horseshoe pits are surrounded by concrete.

Per the city website, the park is on the site of an old reservoir and was donated to the City by Governor John Miller, John O'Fallon, Louis LaBeaume and others.

The park has walking paths throughout the park, a basketball court in the round, a mid-century service building, a beautiful spray pool, and a playground.  

Curiously enough, Garrison-Branter-Webster Park is not listed on the city website, although it certainly does exist. 

The park has basketball courts and tennis courts.  The basketball courts are in playable condition although there are spray painted messages all over.  Some more perplexing than others.

This is a small pocket park that kind of serves as the "town square" of a small 1980's development that has a very unique, kind of Disney or movie-set feel.  It is not typical St. Louis, but I imagine it has an appeal for folks just wanting privacy and a sense of insular seclusion.

The park had the feel of somewhere you shouldn't be if you don't live in the surrounding Kingsbury Place homes.  I got weird looks from the 2 families that were there.  It's surely not a destination place, but it is a really nice and almost charming place if not a wee bit contrived.   The park feels private not public which I believe is the intent of this part of town.  In fact, you won't find the typical city park signage with brown wood with white etched lettering here.

This park is awesome and quite unique in that there is little green space.  It is has an urban NYC feel to me.

There is a small stage and planters with vegetation providing shade and privacy. 

The park is located near Hamilton and Westminster and is pretty hard to find and even harder to get to because of the crazy dead ends, one ways, bollards, etc that make navigating this neighborhood a puzzling maze.

Anyhow, I jumped a few curbs and finally found this park which is nothing more than a small playground and football field complete with 2 field goals.

Gwen B. Giles was much more than just the City Assessor as the city website chooses to tell the story...she was a local civil rights leader in the turbulent and pivotal late 1960's, and the first black woman to serve in the Missouri Senate.

Looking at the park from the view above, I'd love to see some prairie restoration take place in parts of the park.  Walking paths could be mowed within the prairie grasses to allow people to get in touch with nature.

The park was placed into ordinance in 1963.  It used to be called Pontiac Central Park, but the name was changed.  Fremont takes its name from John C. Fremont, American explorer, plant collector, military man, politician, etc.

You can tell there are a lot kids spending time here and there were two young families using the park on my visit, one playing soccer, the other playing on the playground.  I try and talk to the young families about where they plan on sending their kids to school and talk up the ones I know about and urge them to give the city schools a try.  This particular family wants to stay in St. Louis and are excited about trying the magnets. 

Accessibility from the surrounding neighborhoods is pretty rough, as you have to cross 6 traffic lanes and a median if you are walking from the larger Ellendale neighborhood to the west.  The park is accessible from the north on the chat easement of the River Des Pares drainage ditches.  There are homeless people who've set up shop here under the Arsenal bridge as signs of bon fires and meals and graffiti are everywhere.

As can be seen by the satellite image above, there are sports fields consolidated on the south side of the park and a central walkway and lily pond which you'll see photos of herein and the park is bordered by wide sidewalks which are popular with joggers, dog walkers, stroller pushers and the like. 

Francis Park is one of 2 parks serving the beautiful St. Louis Hills neighborhood, along with Willmore Park.  The neighborhood that flanks the park includes tree lined streets, a school, churches on every corner and lots and lots of well maintained and cared for homes.  You can tell there is a lot of neighborhood pride in this part of the city.

The shutting off of the Thurman underpass had some unintended consequences.  One, it became a hangout for the knuckleheads to gather en masse.  Broken glass and trash piled up and it became an eye sore and intimidating for the average person to traverse.  Two, it separated communities.

However, this part of Shaw/Botanical Heights is prepping for a major transformation.  In 2012 the Garden District Commission put together a design competition for improvement in the area.  UIC was eventually chosen as the winning design and this will include repaving the street, installing new lighting and a bike path and pedestrian trail.

Fountain Park was designed to be a treasure on St. Louis' near north side.  It is an oval shaped park surrounded by beautiful homes, churches and a former business building.  It is the one park to servethe Fountain Park Neighborhood.

Anyhow, Fanetti Park was named after Donald L. Fanetti (1922-1977).  A commemorative plaque exists in the park and describes Mr. Fanetti as:

FAMILY MAN-HUMORIST-FRIEND
BUSINESSMAN-COMMUNITY LEADER
UNDER-EDITOR BUGLE NEWSPAPER

Fairground Park is the home of the first municipal swimming pool in St. Louis opened in 1912.  In 1949 the pool was opened to black folks in a response from a Federal court procedure saying it was against the 14th amendment to disallow people from public pools, golf courses, etc based on race.

A race riot ensued.  Read all about it in an excellent story by Kate Boudreau that was published on NextSTL.

There are some really weird concrete and stone structures left over from who knows what.  If anyone has some info on this, please let me know.  Upon my visit, there were no neighbors available to talk about the park.

The tennis center in Forest Park is also named in honor of Mr. Davis.

Tennis is a focal point of this park today, although I doubt there is much tennis played here.  In fact, one of the courts was converted to a basketball court (way more popular sport in this part of St. Louis).  

There is an old hand-laid retaining wall that is still in place on the north side of the park.

Other than that, nothing to see folks...move right along.

There is no signage or otherwise that would identify this as a St. Louis park...nothing.  There is nothing here, just a few random trees and mowed weeds.

The park is located between Eads Avenue, California, St. Vincent and where Ohio Avenue would be if the street grid were not dismantled to accommodate the strangely out of place suburban complexes of Eads Square, Lafayette Habilitation Center and the former National/Schnucks/Foodland/Sav-A-Lot property which is undergoing a re-facing as I write this post.  Read all about that here.

The coolest thing I learned today was from talking to some guys who just got back from the Real Madrid-Inter Milan match Downtown.  They were kicking the ball around.  I struck up a conversation and it turns out DeSoto Park is the site of a long-running adult semi-pro soccer league.  It is played on Sunday's and it is an International scene with players from Mexico, Central and South America, Bosnia, Croatia, Poland, of course old time St. Louis guys, etc.  These guys described an awesome scene where the families of the players cook out and socialize while watch the games.  The fields are in good condition as are the goals. 

The park was placed into ordinance in 1867.  It takes up 35.8 acres of land near in the neighborhood of Compton Heights.

The homes that surround the park are nothing short of amazing.  There are high rise apartments, condos, single and multi-family homes...all typical St. Louis beauties.

he park itself is actually quite well done.  There are stairs on all sides that lead to the center of the park which is really a just a simple circle with some plantings. The perimeter contains Linden's and Red Bud which make for some great shade. 

This park has arguably the most unique topography in all of the city.  It is in low lying land that looks up to the surrounding homes.  The unconventional winding streets are not common for St. Louis where the recti-linear street grid rules in most of the city. 

This neighborhood with its mix of larger frame Victorian style houses is quite unique for St. Louis.  In fact, it reminds me of the small suburban city of Webster Groves, MO (pop. 22,989).  The Victorian stylings seem to flow down through the park from the surrounding neighborhood creating winding walkways that all seem to lead toward the lake that is really the heart of the park.

Christy Park, according to the city website, is comprised of 16.1 acres of park land, established in 1910.  There are no official boundaries listed on that website, so I can only assume that Christy Park and Joseph Leisure Parks are one in the same.  There is actually a band of parks that start at Kingshighway and Christy and head south and east toward the River Des Peres, following the Great Rivers Greenway Trail starting near Christy and Holly Hills Boulevards.

Chouteau Park is just largely a graded empty lot right now, awaiting funds to become a fully realized park space.  The design was done by H3 studios in 2009 who seem to be the firm that does all the park designs/master plans (Fox Park, Carondelet, etc).

The full plan can be found here.  An update was provided by Washington University Medical Center Redevelopment Corp. back in November, 2011...

The vast majority of this park is really just grass from the outfields of both fields.

The exception is the southeastern section which is quite shaded with nice large and newly planted trees.  This section of the park has swings and a playground and a building with storage and bathrooms.  It was locked

The park is the first I've visited with a swimming pool.  It appeared to be in really nice condition and it was good to see.  Moms with kids in tow ranging from little ones to teens were present cooling off on a typically scorching July St. Louis day.  There was a lifeguard and security guard on duty and this pool is free to all St. Louis residents. 

Okay, this is one of my favorite St. Louis parks and probably one of the best known parks in the city.  Forest Park is the obvious first choice, Carondelet or O'Fallon may be second.  Tower Grove is not a city park, otherwise it would be #2 for me.

Carondelet Lions Park...no not that Carondelet Park, the other one.  This park is located in the Carondelet Neighborhood, right in the shadow of the awesome, recently renovated Coca-Cola syrup plant, now called the Temtor that houses the delicious Perennial Artisan Ales...and has a lot of people living there now within its apartments.

This part of the park looks used and with a little more hard work could become a real asset to the neighborhood.  The curb appeal of the park would improve by with more hardscape to define the space around the center planting and provide some structure and curb appeal.

The southern section of the park is a blank slate...literally just a mowed field of grass/weeds and a couple random trees.  There was a recent bump out along the sidewalk for a water fountain that does not work or is not turned on, but it looks nice.
 

This isn't really a park at all rather a narrow strip of land between Broadway and Calvary Avenue which splits the 2 historic cemeteries.  If I weren't a completist, I'd have skipped this "park". 

Nothing to report here other than some new trees planted and a crumbling stairway that is impassable and unusable.

Famous poet and writer Maya Angelou grew up near Buder Park on Caroline street and attended Toussaint L'Ouverture Grammar School just around the way.  I wish the African-American community did a better job of embracing the history and the meaningful black contributions to this city.  There should be something commemorating Ms. Angelou's time here but I couldn't find anything.  If anyone knows the exact address that Ms. Angelou spent parts of her childhood, please let me know.

Sadly, the park has seen a lack of interest from the neighbors over time.  I doubt anyone would say this is a positive space nor asset to the neighborhood.  That's not to say there isn't tremendous potential as the park was built up to rise above Hickory Street and providing excellent views of Downtown and Midtown.

The park shares the local Italian-American heritage and pride...and it's only getting better.  Support of the local business community is evident from the trash cans to the monuments within the park. 

The baseball fields are maintained and in excellent condition, the best I've seen.  Note the nod to the Italian flag, the locked equipment boxes and painted utilities and clean/intact bleachers.

If you don't know, Benton Park is one of those south city neighborhoods that has seen amazing grassroots rehabs throughout the neighborhood.  This trend continues even in these slow markets, as nearly all the homes on the north side of the park are "done"; there was rehab work on one of the remaining board ups on my visit today. 

Carondelet, not unlike the Hill takes incredible pride in its history, maybe like no other St. Louis neighborhood.  There are 2 signs commemorating the fact that you are in the former city of Carondelet.

There are new trash cans located all over the park...therefore you can imagine it was very clean.  People want to use trash cans, they just don't exist in many parks.  Beckett was a clear exception.

I ran into a guy with a metal detector, and we struck up a conversation about what we were both doing, me with a camera, him with a metal detector.  We chatted for ~ 10 minutes on the history of the park and the neighborhood.  He has been in Wells Goodfellow since the 1960s and told some great stories.  He said there was a large population of Jewish and Italian Americans living around the park leading up to the 1950s.  They started to leave in the 60s and that's when black folks settled in (the 2010 Census data indicates 98% black population).  This part of the city is bleeding residents.  People can't get out fast enough as 28% of the residential base took off for greener pastures from 2000-2010. 

Man, do I love North City.  The way these neighborhoods were laid out is simply amazing.  It seems like there was more wealth in its heyday, meaning more mansions than the South Side which I know much better.  Today my visit took place on a Sunday, a great day to witness the scores of middle aged and older black people dressed to the T's and looking sharp, socializing and showing up in droves to the many, many churches.  It's a scene I love.

Anyhow, Amherst Park is one of those parks that is brimming with potential.

As the city started losing population at a staggering rate, there was less need for business and housing...hence, we get more building demolition and are left with easier to maintain park space.  Unfortunately, as go the buildings and people so goes the well planned, dense city.  Anyhow, we lost a lot of tax generating, vibrancy-creating properties and now we have parks.  Albeit...a very beautiful one in the case of Aloe Plaza.

Aloe Plaza West is really nothing more than grass, a few trees and homeless tents and debris.  

The park is basically a field of mowed grass/weeds and maybe 40 trees placed haphazardly and not well maintained.  This park has nothing, literally nothing else.  There are no trash cans, no water fountain, no benches, no picnic tables...nothing.

No where to dispose of your tasty cold beverage.
 

One of the smallest parks, this Soulard sliver abutting I-55 is a place to walk the dog and sit under a tree.