Fairground Park for All

The history of St. Louis runs deep in Fairground Park. Over the years, the park provided some residents a sense of shared prosperity and joy while for others it was reminder of exclusion and neglect. On January 9, 2024, the IRS informed a team of dedicated local community supporters that their organization, Fairground Park For All (FPFA), had been granted 501c3 status. With this, the drive to restore, maintain and sustain this jewel of North St. Louis City to an elevated regional and national status as a vibrant outdoor public space designed to welcome and serve a multicultural community had begun in earnest. The opportunity to deliver benefits like improved mental health, community engagement and revitalization, clean air, economic benefits, safety, recreation and physical activity that a properly planned, funded and managed urban park can provide stands before us.

Founded in the 1850s by prominent St. Louis merchants, the park thrived as a commercial focal point to serve the needs of Western expansion. For its first 50 years, the Fairgrounds grew as a premier destination for thousands of city residents seeking to visit its Amphitheater, Zoo and gracious lush landscape, and learn of the latest Agricultural and Mechanical innovations. During the Civil War, the amphitheater was converted into the largest hospital for Union troops.

Fairground Park took on a new role at the turn of the last century when city residents turned their attention to Forest Park and the coming World's Fair. As a result, Fairground took the role of recreation center as the amphitheater was filled with water to form the country's largest outdoor public community pool, for Whites only. In fact, many restrictions based on race permeated the park during this time. 

There was a 1949 pool riot that was the beginning of an entirely new phase in race relations for the park and its surrounding neighborhoods - White flight and the beginning of the area’s falling economic prosperity robbed the neighborhoods of the benefits of a robust park. Opportunities to form cherished memories became few and far between as facilities like restrooms, gazebos and even the pool fell into disrepair. 

Meanwhile, over the past forty years, St. Louis has become known for its ability as a 'legacy city' to restore historic urban parks. Forest Park, Tower Grove Park and Gateway Park are all showcases for renewal. The type of organization that distributes wealth to those parks has been missing from Fairground Park. As a result, residents living around Fairground find themselves traveling miles to other parks to benefit from what Fairground is lacking. Fairground Park For All was formed to change this.

FPFA is focused on creating an organization dedicated to being part of the community and understanding residents’ needs so the park is a true asset to them and to St. Louis as a whole.  FPFA will benefit from St. Louis’ success in park revitalizations. FPFA is fortunate that the City commissioned a Masterplan in 2006 to renew Fairground to a level expected for a park of this caliber located in the city’s core. This renewal was never implemented due to lack of a funding plan.

FPFA is planning for a phased development and growth strategy grounded in continued outreach with the communities and neighborhoods surrounding the park. Our first step is to demonstrate FPFA’s credibility as a well managed, trusted and capable entity. This will be done by establishing transparent financial management practices, well documented operating procedures, open meetings and communication and concise and consistent messaging and media strategies. We will also demonstrate community support based on community event attendance, feedback and local funding. This initial start up funding will pay for immediate “low hanging fruit” improvements to the park. These accomplishments are intended to position us to apply for sizable national park grants to accomplish the second phase — the implementation of an updated Masterplan outlining the improvements and changes to bring the park to the standard of excellence of the other city parks. The third phase will focus on developing a welcoming personality for the park to distinguish it as a place for ALL. This is an attribute that has been missing for much of the park’s existence over the past 175 years.