Tower Grove Park: Mission completed for St. Louis landmark

*NOTE – This article was originally written in May of 2007 for the newsletter.

Who would have guessed that it would have taken almost twenty years and $18 million to get to this point? In the late 1980’s Tower Grove Park was not a place to take the kids for an afternoon picnic or ballgame. Today, it is a proud member of our local collection of urban parks.

According to the South City Journal, the final piece in the creation of this renaissance is about to be put into place thanks to a $250,000 grant from Emerson and $100,000 in pledges from Anheuser-Busch Foundation.

This $350,000 will be used to completely recreate three out of the four lily ponds in the park. These ponds are located on the north side of the park near the Tower Grove Avenue entrance. Seen as the last remaining project needed to be done in the park, residents and park maintenance staff should be proud of the transformation they have witnessed and been a part of.

Now that the park is in great shape, more and more community and sports activities can be seen within the park’s borders. One good example is the Tower Grove Farmers Market (www.tgmarket.org). Last year’s market was such a success that vendors and volunteers are going for another round. The market will be open every Saturday from May 12 through October 27, 8:30am until 12:30pm. This is just one of the many examples of the progress the park has made.

So the next time you are in South City looking for something to do, stop by the park. You just might be surprised what you find. For a list of available activities and amenities visit the park’s website at www.towergrovepark.org.