With a towering grand entrance, Fairground Park was once a beacon for those looking to enjoy its large pool, amphitheater, art gallery, lush trees and gorgeous bridges. But the mid-20th century marked the beginning of the park’s decline. A riot broke out in 1949 as a result of the historically “whites only” pool being desegregated.
The EF3 tornado that swept the park on May 16 exacerbated conditions at the park. Despite the litter and debris, lifelong Fairground Park resident Mary Wheeler-Jones holds onto a vision of the park’s former glory.
“I remember my church that I used to belong to is directly across from the park, and we used to have Easter egg hunts, sunrise service, church picnics,” Wheeler-Jones said. “We'd watch our boyfriends play softball. We went over the bridges through Fairground Park to get to Beaumont High School. One of my friends who walked with us had his first kiss on the bridge in the park.”
Growing up in the Fairground neighborhood and seeing the neglect of the park led Wheeler-Jones and six other community members to join forces with Bryan Lawrence and Sally Cohn to co-found Fairground Park for All, a new nonprofit organization.
The group was created to restore Fairground Park. Lawrence, who is not a St. Louis native, was introduced to the park by Cohn. He saw the potential for change there.
“I saw an opportunity to address something that still needed to be addressed, in my eyes, and it was doable,” Lawrence said. “We're not trying to change the world. We're just trying to change a park. And St. Louis is really good at this. We have a national reputation for urban park renewal, and it's obvious we all know about Forest Park and Tower Grove Park.”
This isn’t the first effort to restore Fairground Park. The City of St. Louis developed a master plan in 2006 to revitalize the park and held a community meeting at Beaumont High School to unveil the proposal. Wheeler-Jones was one of the few residents who attended the meeting. The plan never progressed beyond that early stage.
“I was just amazed,” Wheeler-Jones recounted. “[There were] trees and what we call ‘rooms’ where you could sit on a bench and have your own space like [in] Forest Park. I can't even describe how beautiful it was. It's just unbelievable. But again, that was almost 20 years ago.”
Fairground Park for All intends to take the city’s previous master plan, revise it, and move forward with a mission focusing on the beautification of the park. The group’s founders acknowledge that the community will need to be convinced.
“They've seen this story before. 2006 is the perfect example,” Lawrence said. “I mean, it was really nice, but nothing happened. So it's like, ‘oh, here we go again.’ We won't have succeeded until we go beyond creating a master plan, which we're doing now, and actually doing something.”
To prove they are serious about revitalizing the park, the organization selected artist Fatou Kabir, who connected with families in the community to develop the mural unveiled earlier this month.
The group is also holding the first of multiple planned community input meetings this Thursday. The organizers hope to receive recommendations from community members about improvements they want to see in the long-neglected park and the surrounding neighborhood.
“It's the same neglect we have in all of north city,” Wheeler-Jones said. “So we’re hoping this is a catalyst to change north city. If we get involved and make this park happen, then other things would happen, like new housing and businesses.”
To hear more about Fairground Park for All’s initiative and the history of Fairground Park, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or click the play button below.
Related Event
What: Community Input Meeting
When: 5:30-8:30 p.m. Sept. 25
Where: Deaconess Foundation, 1000 N. Vandeventer Ave., St. Louis, MO 63113
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Darrious Varner is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
