Posted on Thursday July 25, 2024
Meet Lionel Phillips, CEO & President of Phillips Concrete Services. His company has helped build several greenway projects. Right now, they have the unique distinction of building a greenway right outside their own front door! We caught up with Lionel as his crews were pouring concrete on the St. Vincent Greenway extension in Wellston.
Posted on Thursday July 25, 2024
April Walker recently joined Great Rivers Greenway as an Outreach Specialist. These valued team members help out at events and programs across the region- answering questions, sharing project updates and handing out maps and greenway “swag.” April shares why she wanted to get involved with Great Rivers Greenway:
“I was ecstatic to be selected as an Outreach Specialist. I am excited to work with the community to encourage life outside on the greenways! I take my grandchildren to the Storybook Walk at Ruth Porter Mall Park and I live in walking distance of Trojan Park. We also visit Forest Park regularly by way of the St Vincent Greenway. The museums, water features and the Muny are our favorite places to go. We enjoy picnicking in the parks on the greenway too. I look forward to seeing the development of the greenway on the Hodiamont Tracks, which is also really close to home for me. Hope to see you outside on a greenway!”
Home Greenway: St. Vincent
Posted on Wednesday July 24, 2024
April Walker and her mother Doris J. Shaw are a dynamic greenway duo! April is one of our part-time outreach specialists who helps at events and programs across the region- answering questions, sharing project updates and handing out maps and greenway “swag.” After tagging along to several greenway events with April, Doris wanted to get involved too! She is now a trained volunteer Greenway Ambassador–representing Great Rivers Greenway at community events and assisting with other programs.
“I am so happy I was selected as a Greenway Ambassador! I enjoy working outdoors with my daughter and telling people about all the greenways. My favorite is St. Vincent Greenway at Ruth Porter Mall Park because it is close to my neighborhood, and I love walking along and reading the latest storybook.”
[Photo: Doris J. Shaw, Greenway Ambassador at right in green shirt; April Walker, Outreach Specialist,at left in red.]
Learn more about volunteer opportunities here.
Posted on Wednesday July 17, 2024
New Park Coming to Wellston as Part of the National Recreation and Park Association’s Parks Build Community Initiative With Great Rivers Greenway
Trojan Park, named to honor former high school, will lie along the St. Vincent Greenway
Great Rivers Greenway is partnering with the National Recreation and Park Association (NRPA) and the City of Wellston, Mo., to transform a vacant lot at the corner of Skinker and Etzel into a vibrant community park. The project is part of NRPA’s Parks Build Community initiative, which aims to demonstrate the transformative value of parks and recreation on communities across the country. Plans are underway for the new Trojan Park, named after the former Wellston high school team name, and the park will open on Oct. 8, 2016, during NRPA’s Annual Conference. With contributions from national vendors and local companies alike, this partnership aims to create a safe place for families to gather and play.
The site chosen for next year’s Parks Build Community project is located along the St. Vincent Greenway, a seven-mile urban paved greenway that will connect regional hub Forest Park to multiple transit stops and the University of Missouri-St. Louis. The ultimate goal is to create a dynamic gathering space that transforms the local community and is embraced and treasured by residents for years to come. NRPA will work with its national partners and suppliers to provide equipment donations for the site, based on input from Wellston residents ranging from a multi-sport court (including full-court basketball), playgrounds for all ages, a pavilion for family reunions or movie nights, and a splashpad for summer fun. Donors are even contributing lighting, benches, trash cans and bike racks.
“The city of Wellston is thrilled for the opportunity to establish a new park,” said Mayor Nathaniel Griffin. “We want to do everything we can to give kids a great place to play and our whole community a space to come together.”
The city of Wellston and Great Rivers Greenway are coordinating with the local community to bring this park to life. Nonprofit partner Beyond Housing is donating their services to engage residents, ensuring this park directly reflects community priorities. Forum Studio, David Mason and Associates, Kozeny-Wagner, Inc., Lochmueller Group, EFK Moen, LLC and Geotechnology, Inc. have all contributed in-kind gifts to supplement the design, engineering, pre-construction and construction management services, signal modification, surveying and subsurface exploration, respectfully. SWT Design is donating a maintenance plan and St. Louis County Parks is contributing operations and maintenance once the park is built, in partnership with Wellston. Great Rivers Greenway is coordinating the project and funding site preparation.
“We are so grateful to the local and national vendors who have stepped up to bring a very deserving community the transformative benefits that a local park can provide,” said Susan Trautman, Executive Director of Great Rivers Greenway.
Trojan Park represents the sixth Parks Build Community project aligned with the NRPA Annual Conference. The St. Vincent Greenway is part of the regional network of greenways that Great Rivers Greenway is creating to connect people to their rivers, parks and communities.
The entire region is invited to celebrate at the opening on October 8, 2016!
Posted on Wednesday July 17, 2024
There are two segments of the St. Vincent Greenway. The northern portion runs 3.5 miles along the rolling hills of the UMSL campus through the lush and shady landscape of St. Vincent County Park.
On the south end, the greenway runs 1.9 miles from Trojan Park at Etzel and Skinker, through Ruth Porter Mall Park to Forest Park at Lindell.
Both segments offer a wide range of scenery—from historic neighborhoods, to parks, to an active university campus. Here are some historical tidbits and points of interest to think about as you explore and enjoy this greenway:
Did you know a portion of the University of Missouri-St. Louis campus was the Bellerive Country Club golf course? As you walk or ride over the rolling hills on the greenway that crosses the campus, you can easily imagine how it was once home to PGA tournaments and national amateur golf championships. Since 1960, the University has grown from a single building on the former country club to more than 50 buildings on 300 acres.
The northern section of the St. Vincent Greenway crosses Natural Bridge Road south of the UMSL Campus. Did you know that this roadway was once a route that wagon trains took west to the Oregon and Santa Fe Trails?
The St. Vincent Greenway passes through Ruth C. Porter Mall Park between Delmar and Etzel. The park is named for Ruth C. Porter a tireless activist dedicated to eradicating inequality and discrimination in St. Louis.
A large portion of her 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.
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.
St. Vincent County park is named for the former St. Vincent’s Hospital first opened on the site in August 1895. Built for the then-enormous cost of $500,000, it was the finest institutional building of its time. The interior included custom woodwork and stained glass windows and the 140 acres of surrounding landscape provided patients with therapy and recreation opportunities. Food for the patients was even grown on the hospital’s property. In 1977 the land surrounding the hospital was turned into a county park, and in 1980 St. Vincent County Park was opened to the public.
While it has since been converted to apartments, the castle-like building’s dramatic turrets, towers, and spires remain. When it first opened, the building was located between the Huntley and Eden Stations on the Wabash Railroad (now the MetroLink line). A railroad stop just for the hospital was added at the foot of a long series of steps that led up the hill to the main entrance. As you travel along the greenway, you can still see these steps once used by hospital staff, visitors, and the Daughters of Charity.
The St. Vincent Greenway crosses over what was once the site of the West End Narrow Gauge Railroad–a passenger steam locomotive launched in 1875. This railroad enabled the exodus of affluent families from downtown to St. Louis to what was once considered the suburbs. The tracks eventually became the Hodiamont street car line. You can see where it once ran as you cross the site of the former tracks in the Hodiamont alley between Vernon and Cabanne Avenues.
The route to connect both sections of the greenway was identified after an extensive citizen engagement effort in 2014. Great Rivers Greenway staff and the design team are continuing to work together on design, funding strategies and phasing.
Posted on Wednesday July 17, 2024
Get out on a greenway to celebrate 3.14 Day or any day! We’ve plotted out seven 3.14 mile routes on greenways across St. Louis City, St. Louis County and St. Charles County. Follow one of our suggested routes, or make up your own- you’ve got 135+miles of greenway to choose from!
Start your walk at the Rock Road Transit Center. Follow the greenway out to St. Charles Rock Road where you will turn right (west) towards St. Vincent County Park along the new section of greenway that opened in 2023. Look for the big St. Vincent Greenway sign at Salerno Street! Follow the greenway as it turns and heads north into the park along St. Vincent Park Road. Continue walking or riding on the greenway through the woods (Check out the progress on our woodland restoration!) You may hear the MetroLink train whistle as you walk! You will pass by Castle Park Apartments (the former St. Vincent Hospital) up on the hill. You will see the Daughters of Charity Cemetery on your right. Head towards the playground and tennis courts in the park. Turn around at the parking lot by the tennis courts and head back to the Rock Road Transit Center. (Plan your trip here. You can find a printable adventure map with more information about St. Vincent County Park here.)
Start your walk at the St. Charles County Heritage Museum. Follow the greenway to where it spurs north to cross over highways 364 and 94. Follow the greenway to N. Outer Road. Use the crosswalk to cross over to the new stretch of this greenway that opened in 2023 and follow the signs to Schaefer Park. Take a stroll around Schaefer Park and then turn around and head back to the Heritage Museum! Plan your trip here.
Begin your walk at the Duckett Creek Trailhead in Missouri Research Park. Follow the greenway towards the KATY Trail. When you reach the KATY Trail go left; follow the KATY Trail until you reach the path that connects to the walking and biking path on the Boone Bridge. Turn around and head back to Duckett Creek Trailhead. Plan your trip here.
Start your walk at the Shaw Park Trailhead. Follow the greenway until you reach Old Bonhomme Road. Turn around and head back to the Shaw Park Trailhead. Plan your trip here. Take MetroLink to the Clayton Station and walk about .6 mile extra to start your walk or ride. See route here.
Begin your walk at the Missouri History Museum at Forest Park- walk around the museum and then cross over Lindell at the traffic light on the east side of the museum. Follow the greenway all the way to Etzel Ave. Turn around and head back to the History Museum. Plan your trip here.
Begin your walk at the Trailhead in the upper section of the park on Cliff Cave Road. Follow the greenway down the hill to the overlook and check out the amazing view! Walk back up the hill from overlook and take a left to follow the paved greenway to the lower section of the park. After you cross the bridge over cliff Cave Road, take a left. You will continue downhill, passing by the mouth of the cave! Continue on the greenway down the hill towards the River. Cross the railroad tracks and go left to follow the loop trail. Once you make the loop take a left and walk towards the large pavilion by the river. Enjoy the river view and then reverse your route and go back up to where you started! Plan your trip here.
Start your walk or ride in Sunset Park. Follow the paved greenway down the hill, all the way down to the river, where the paved trail ends. Enjoy the view of the Missouri River! Head back up to the parking lot and follow the paved path along Sunset Park Drive until you reach Hazelwood Northwest Middle School. Turn around and head back to the parking lot in Sunset Park for a 3.14 mile walk! Plan your trip here.
Posted on Wednesday July 17, 2024
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
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.
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.
Posted on Wednesday July 17, 2024
Connects Community to Transit, Businesses, Community Resources, Area Attractions, Neighborhoods & Parks
Community members joined Great Rivers Greenway (GRG) and its project partners Sunday, August 6, to celebrate the new half-mile expansion of the St. Vincent Greenway from Trojan Park at Etzel Ave to Robert L. Powell Place in Wellston.
The afternoon kicked off with a parade held along the newly completed section from the Wellston Transit Center to Trojan Park. Then GRG, the Mysun Charitable Foundation and Wellston Mayor Nathanial Griffin took part in a ribbon cutting ceremony at Trojan Park. The celebration concluded with a free concert from local band Dirty Muggs.
The greenway now extends from Trojan Park along Stephen Jones Avenue and west to the intersection of Plymouth and Sutter avenues. Community members can walk, run, push a stroller, ride a bike or use a wheelchair along the paved, accessible path that connects them to Trojan Park, Yadier Molina Field, the Wellston MetroLink Station, Metropolitan Education and Training (MET) Center, STL Partnership Business Center, and the new MetroBus stop on Stephen Jones Ave.
“This greenway builds on our long-successful partnership with Wellston for Trojan Park,” said Susan Trautman, CEO of Great Rivers Greenway. “Even in a small section, we were able to make critical connections to transit and destinations for job training, plus create a lovely new community space along the way.”
Thanks to the support of the Mysun Charitable Foundation along with Great Rivers Greenway funds, a small “pocket” park was added at Plymouth and Stephen Jones Avenues, featuring a new deck with a seating area. The landing overlooks a recently cleared area of Engelholm Creek and provides a view of a new rain garden with native plantings. This not only provides habitat for pollinators and welcomes visitors, but also offers a place for the water to overflow during rainstorms. Built to flood, this rain garden filters rainwater and reduces pressure on storm drains. The park also includes solar lighting, a bike rack, a water fountain with water bottle and dog bowl features, and an emergency blue light tower.
Additionally, the development contributed new LED lights along Plymouth Ave., a new parking lot with permeable pavers at the corner of Stephen Jones and Etzel avenues, and a MetroBus stop with improved seating along Plymouth Ave.
“Our community is very excited to have even more of the St. Vincent Greenway to use every day,” said Nathanial Griffin, Mayor of Wellston. “We’re proud of our partnership with Great Rivers Greenway and we love being a regional destination for our parks and greenways.”
Community members can also travel along the existing stretch of the St. Vincent Greenway, which connects them to destinations such as Ruth Porter Mall Park, the West End and DeBaliviere Place neighborhoods, businesses along DeBaliviere Ave., the Forest Park-DeBaliviere MetroLink station, and Forest Park at the Missouri History Museum.
A future path through Pagedale to St. Charles Rock Road that will connect the St. Vincent Greenway from Forest Park to the University of Missouri-St. Louis will be completed in 2024-2025.
Posted on Wednesday July 17, 2024
Opening celebration held on Thursday, July 27, 2023, at St. Vincent County Park
On July 27, we joined partners at the Missouri Department of Transportation (MoDOT), Metro Transit/Bi-State Development and St. Louis County Parks to celebrate the completion of the St. Vincent Greenway expansion along St. Charles Rock Road. Attendees enjoyed free desserts and participated in transportation safety activities that followed the presentation.
“The greenway transforms the connection between the park and the transit center into a safer and more enjoyable experience,” said Trautman. “This is a small but mighty project made possible by a great collaboration.”
Built in partnership with MoDOT, Bi-State Development / Metro St. Louis and St. Louis County Parks, the new greenway provides an accessible walking and biking path from the Rock Road Metro Station along St. Charles Rock Road to the existing greenway in St. Vincent County Park. It also connects the surrounding neighborhoods in Pagedale.
The project was strategically planned to leverage taxpayers’ investment by working with partners and taking advantage of MoDOT’s larger improvement plan for St. Charles Rock Road.
“When we partner with Great Rivers Greenway, we are able to satisfy more transportation needs,” said Tom Blair, St. Louis district engineer, MoDOT. “This is the kind of project that will serve more people, saved everyone money and cut down on construction impacts for the community by combining efforts.”
This project has not only expanded the greenway, but also enhances safety for everyone who travels along this part of St. Charles Rock Road to connect to St. Vincent County Park, the Rock Road Transit Center, schools, businesses, and surrounding neighborhoods. Great Rivers Greenway and project partners have built a new trail and added new green paint, pavement markings and signage. Together these features create high visibility that emphasizes this space is used by people walking, riding bikes and driving. Two new pedestrian crossings have been added at 70th Street and the entrance road to St. Vincent County Park to make it safer for people to cross St. Charles Rock Road. This will connect with a future St. Vincent Greenway segment through Pagedale to Wellston that is slated to begin construction in 2024.
“There is now just one more piece to connect the St. Vincent Greenway so people can use all seven miles of greenway to connect between Forest Park and University of Missouri St. Louis,” said Susan Trautman, CEO of Great Rivers Greenway. “With six train stations, many bus stops and dozens of destinations along the way, the greenway gives people more choices.”
Another new section of the St. Vincent Greenway was also recently completed in Wellston. The community celebration will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday, August 5, 2023, at Trojan Park.
Posted on Monday July 15, 2024
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.
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 and the Wellston MetroLink Station. 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.
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