Greenway: Ruth Porter Mall Park

Storybook Walks on Greenways

Posted on Wednesday July 17, 2024

Storybook Walks are a fun way to read a book while enjoying a walk along a greenway.

(Not to mention instilling a love for books as little readers burn up some energy!)
Books are displayed page -by-page on progressive signs along the paved path. There are Storybook Walks on greenways in St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County. Plan a visit to one or all of them!

St. Vincent Greenway at Ruth Porter Mall

We have teamed up with the St. Louis Public Library on a Storybook Walk at Ruth Porter Mall Park on the St. Vincent Greenway. The featured book changes every month. (Fun Fact: The posts were designed and built by Perennial, a local nonprofit, using 342 pounds of reclaimed material.) The February book is Because Claudette by Tracey Baptiste

Maline Greenway at Bella Fontaine County Park

We’ve partnered with St. Louis Black Authors of Children’s Literature on a Storybook Walk in Bella Fontaine County Park on the Maline Greenway. The featured book is Roscoe Goes to School by Dytania Harris.  The Storybook Walk is located on the greenway near the baseball fields.

St. Charles County Storybook Walks

The St. Charles City-County Library maintains five Storybook Walks in St. Charles County. Library staff hand-pick a different book each month. Two of the Storybook Walks are on greenways:

Boschert Greenway at Fox Hill Park in St. Charles
The February book is The Epic Adventures of Huggie & Stick by Drew Doywalk and David Springer. The Storybook Walk is separate from the main part of Fox Park; it’s near the parking area at the end of Huncker/Quince (Boschert Greenway Hunker Drive Parking), then just down a short paved path.

Dardenne Greenway at St. Charles Community College in Cottleville
The February Book is Rhinos Don’t Eat Pancakes by Anna Kemp. The Storybook Walk is on the portion of the Dardenne Greenway that crosses St. Charles Community College in Cottleville. Find it by parking lot “Orange 4” via the north entrance to the campus off Mid Rivers Mall Drive.

Find all of the St. Charles City County Storybook Walks here.

Ruth Porter Mall Park: St. Vincent Greenway

Posted on Monday July 15, 2024

The St. Vincent Greenway passes through Ruth C. Porter Mall Park between Delmar and Etzel in the West End Neighborhood of St. Louis. The park is named for Ruth C. Porter, a tireless activist dedicated to eradicating inequality and discrimination in St. Louis.

About Ruth Porter

A large portion of Ruth Porter’s work was focused on education. She introduced innovative leadership, tutoring programs and a new kindergarten at the Kinloch YMCA. Porter also co-founded the Kinder Cottage–a preschool whose concepts of early education pre-dated Head Start. She also established Community Resources, an organization that worked to integrate the city’s schools–a goal she felt went unrealized nearly a decade after the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision.

In addition to education, Ruth Porter was also a tireless advocate for fair housing. Long after the Supreme Court ruled against the use of restrictive covenants that limited access to property based on race, real estate agents and lending institutions continued to practice discrimination in selling houses to Black people. As a founding member of the Greater St. Louis Committee for Freedom of Residence, Porter became its first Executive Director, championing the fight for open housing in a city where redlining and restrictive covenants kept many African American families segregated.

At great personal sacrifice, she dedicated her life to improving the world in which she lived and building bridges between people of every race and class. She left an indelible mark on St. Louis and her home, the West End neighborhood.

Where is Ruth Porter Mall Park?

Ruth Porter Mall Park is on the southern section of  the St. Vincent Greenway that stretches between the Missouri History Museum at Forest Park to Trojan Park in Wellston.  Ruth Porter Park is the linear greenspace that extends from Delmar to Etzel. Plan your visit to the St. Vincent Greenway & Ruth Porter Mall Park.

Plans are underway to connect the northern and southern sections of the greenway that will create a seven mile continuous greenway between Forest Park, University of Missouri St. Louis Campus and the North Hanley Metrolink.