Forest Park is one of St. Louis' most treasured resources and one of the largest urban parks in the United States. It is the home to the region’s major cultural institutions—the Saint Louis Zoo, Saint Louis Art Museum, History Museum, Saint Louis Science Center and the Muny Opera. It also serves as a sports center for golf, tennis, baseball, bicycling, boating, fishing, handball, and ice-skating.
Read moreColumbia Bottom Conservation Area
Columbia Bottom Conservation Area is in north St. Louis County. This 4,318-acre area includes a view of the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, over 6.5 miles of river frontage, about 800 acres of bottomland forest and a 110-acre island. Public access facilities include roads, trails, a river access, and a viewing area at the confluence.
Read moreDr. Edmund A. Babler Memorial State Park
Babler Memorial State Park was created in 1934 and is an on-going commemoration of a well-known St. Louis family. The CCC worked to develop the park by cutting roads through the hilly countryside and building scenic viewpoints, trails and covered shelters. This park features wildlife viewing, hiking and equestrian trails, camping, outdoor recreation, and the River Hills Visitor Center.
Read moreWorld Chess Hall of Fame
The World Chess Hall of Fame opened in 2011 in Saint Louis’ Central West End. The World Chess Hall of Fame is housed in a historic three story 15,900 square-foot residence-turned-business and features the U.S. and World Chess Halls of Fame, artifact displays, a permanent collection, and temporary exhibitions highlighting the great players, historic games, and the cultural history of chess.
Read moreSaint Louis Zoo
The Saint Louis Zoo has been named #1 zoo by Zagat Survey's U.S. Family Travel Guide. The Zoo is home to more than 22,000 exotic animals, many of them rare and endangered with over 800 species represented at the Zoo come from all the major continents. Features include the Fragile Forest, the River's Edge, the Cypress Swamp with the 1904 Flight Cage, the Insectarium, and Big Cat Country.
Read moreSaint Louis Science Center
The Saint Louis Science Center is one the largest science centers of its type and one of only two science centers in the country with no general admission charge. The Science Center has three buildings – the main Science Center Building, the Exploradome exhibition hall, and the James S. McDonnell Planetarium.
Read moreMOTO Museum
The Moto Museum is housed in an old printing factory in the Locust Business District and is a private collection of motorcycles, obtained from nearly 20 countries around the globe celebrating the form, function, evolution, and elegance of the motorcycle. The collections spans almost eight decades (1900-1975) of mostly European motorcycling.
Read moreShrine of St. Joseph
The Shrine of St. Joseph is an historic church and the only example of Baroque church architecture in the Saint Louis area. It is also the site of the only authenticated miracle in the Midwest. The Shrine's altar has become known as the Altar of Answered Prayers and people often tuck pieces of paper with prayers written on them into crevices on the altar in the hopes they will be answered.
Read moreSaints Peter and Paul Catholic Church
The present building of Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church is the third structure to serve the local community in the Soulard Market area of downtown Saint Louis. The first church was built in 1849 and the current structure in 1875. The church is one of the few churches in the area designed in the German Gothic style to reflect the roots of its original parishioners.
Read moreOld Saint Ferdinand's Shrine
Old Saint Ferdinand’s Shrine is one of the few remaining vestiges of Saint Louis’ Spanish past. The church, built in 1821, is the oldest standing church in all of the Louisiana Purchase Territory. It is also thought to be the oldest Catholic Church between the Mississippi and the Rockies. When the church was renovated in 1880 it took on its Gothic Revival appearance.
Read moreHistoric Trinity Lutheran Church
Located in the heart of Soulard, five minutes south of downtown hotels and one block south of the famous Soulard Market, Trinity Lutheran Church houses the oldest Lutheran congregation west of the Mississippi River. The historic building on the southwest corner of Eighth and Soulard Streets was restored in the mid-eighties.
Read moreChrist Church Cathedral
This Cathedral was constructed between 1859 and 1867, and designed in 14th century English Gothic tradition by Leopold Eidlitz (1823-1908), one of the leading architects in America in the latter half of the 19th century. Christ Church Cathedral is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark.
Read moreBasilica of St. Louis
The Basilica of Saint Louis, King of France, formerly the Cathedral of Saint Louis, and colloquially the Old Cathedral, was consecrated in 1834. It was the first cathedral west of the Mississippi. It is located on the historic riverfront of Saint Louis, near the Gateway Arch. Because of the historical significance of the church, it was left intact when the area was prepared for the Gateway Arch.
Read moreThornhill
Thornhill was the home of Frederick Bates, Missouri’s second governor. The 1820s federal-style home is the oldest standing governor’s residence in Missouri. The home has been restored so visitors can see how a typical farm family lived during the early 1800s. Thornhill is in Faust County Park which also is home to the Butterfly House, the Saint Louis Carousel, and Faust Historical Village.
Read moreSoldiers Memorial Military Museum
The Soldier's Memorial Military Museum is dedicated as a memorial for veterans and as a museum for preserving a historic collection of military artifacts. The building's entrance is flanked by four Bedford stone sculptures by Walker Hancock. Two exhibit rooms hold collections of military items--uniforms, photographs, weaponry, war souvenirs and regalia, posters, medals, and uniforms.
Read moreThe Old Courthouse
The Old Courthouse is best for the Dred Scott slavery trials and where Virginia Minor's case for a woman's right to vote came to trial in the 1870s. Today the Old Courthouse is a museum documenting the history of Saint Louis and the judiciary system of the 19th century. Recently the Old Courthouse was added to the National Park Service's National Underground Railroad Network To Freedom.
Read moreMuseum at the Gateway Arch
Located underneath the Gateway Arch, the Museum at the Gateway Arch preserves some rare artifacts from the days of Lewis and Clark and the 19th century pioneers who helped shape the history of the American West. The museum contains an extensive collection of artifacts related to the westward expansion of the United States.
Read moreThe Museum of Transportation
The Museum of Transportation has one of the largest collections of transportation vehicles in the world, including more than 70 real locomotives -- some of which were used in the earliest days of railroading in the U.S. The wide variety of displays featured at the Museum also includes passenger cars, freight cars, streetcars, automobiles, buses, trucks, horse-drawn carriages, and aircraft.
Read moreMudd's Grove
Mudd's Grove is an antebellum, brick Greek revival house built in 1859 and named for Henry T. Mudd who bought the house and 100 adjoining acres in 1866. Through the years, Mudd's Grove was home to many local families before it was bought by the Kirkwood Historical Society in 1992 and opened for public tours.
Read moreMissouri History Museum
The Missouri History Museum is dedicated to documenting and interpreting the history of the Saint Louis area. The museum is housed in a building formerly called the Jefferson Memorial in honor of President Thomas Jefferson. In 2000 the addition of the Emerson Electric Center to the building gave the Missouri History Museum more exhibit space and additional facilities.
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