Forest Park

The Louisiana Purchase Exposition opened in Forest Park on April 30, 1904 and ran for seven months, drawing nearly 20 million visitors and effectively redefining global expositions for the early twentieth century. The fair occupied the entire park and surrounding city blocks, with 1,500 buildings constructed for the event in a style that fairgoers called Beaux-Arts City Beautiful. Most of those buildings were temporary plaster constructions designed to be demolished after the fair, but a handful were built in permanent materials, including the Palace of Fine Arts that is today the Saint Louis Art Museum, the only fair building that remains in active use as it was intended.

The fair introduced an astonishing number of innovations to mass American culture. The ice cream cone was supposedly invented when an ice cream vendor ran out of dishes and a nearby Syrian waffle vendor rolled his waffles into cones. The hamburger appeared in its modern bun-and-patty form. Iced tea was popularized as a relief from the brutal St. Louis summer humidity. Dr Pepper made its national debut. The first hot dog buns appeared. Puffed rice was demonstrated commercially. The first public address with electrical amplification took place at the fair. And the 1904 Summer Olympic Games, the first held in the United States, were embedded into the fair's program and ran across August and September.

The fair's physical legacy in the park is still visible if you know where to look. The Grand Basin and Art Hill, the dramatic landscape feature at the park's western end with the Apotheosis of St. Louis equestrian statue at the top, was the central organizing axis of the 1904 fair. The Forest Park Boathouse and several small bridges remain from fair construction. The World's Fair Pavilion, built in 1909 from contributions raised after the fair, sits at the highest point in the park and is still a popular wedding and event venue. Walking tours led by Missouri History Museum docents trace the fair's footprint and run free every Saturday morning from April through October.

The Saint Louis Zoo opened in 1910 and occupies 90 acres in the southwest corner of the park, with more than 13,000 animals representing nearly 600 species. The Penguin and Puffin Coast, the River's Edge habitat for hippos and elephants, and the Children's Zoo are the most popular sections, and entry is free year-round (parking is paid and the Penguin Coast charges a small additional fee on peak summer days). The zoo consistently ranks among the top three zoos in the United States in USA Today and Travel + Leisure annual surveys, and its scientific research program in elephant reproduction is internationally recognized.

The Saint Louis Art Museum, in the 1904 Palace of Fine Arts at the top of Art Hill, holds one of the country's most comprehensive collections under one roof, with major Egyptian, classical, medieval European, Impressionist, modern American, German Expressionist, and contemporary African and Asian galleries. Admission to the main collection is free; special exhibitions sometimes carry a $14-18 ticket. The Missouri History Museum, in a 1913 Beaux-Arts building at the park's north entrance, focuses on regional history with major permanent exhibits on Lewis and Clark, the 1904 World's Fair, and the civil rights history of St. Louis. The Saint Louis Science Center on the south side includes a planetarium, an OMNIMAX theater, and hundreds of hands-on interactive exhibits.

The Muny outdoor theater, a 11,000-seat amphitheater built in 1917, is the oldest and largest outdoor musical theater in the United States and stages seven Broadway-caliber productions each summer. The back nine rows—about 1,500 seats every night—are free, available on a first-come first-served basis from one hour before showtime. The 2026 Centennial summer season includes a special production of Route 66: A New American Musical commissioned for the centennial. The Boathouse on Post-Dispatch Lake rents pedal boats and rowboats by the hour and serves casual lakeside dining at reasonable prices.

The 7-mile Forest Park Loop is the most popular outdoor exercise route in St. Louis, used by tens of thousands of runners, cyclists, walkers, and inline skaters every week. The loop is paved, mostly flat, and well-lit until 10 pm, with multiple water fountains and restroom buildings along the route. A separate 14-mile interior path system connects the loop to the major attractions, allowing visitors to bike between the zoo, the art museum, the history museum, and the science center without leaving the park. Bike-share stations operated by Lyft offer hourly rentals at five locations.

The 12 lakes and ponds in the park support catch-and-release fishing for largemouth bass, bluegill, and channel catfish under a Missouri state fishing license, available for $9 per day from the state Conservation Department. The Post-Dispatch Lake near the Boathouse is the most popular fishing spot and is the lake that connects to the Boathouse pedal-boat rental. Highlands Golf Course in the park's northwest corner is a 9-hole municipal course playable for $15-20 per round, and the Forest Park Tennis Center has 18 outdoor courts available for daily rental.

Winter brings the Steinberg Skating Rink, the largest outdoor ice rink in the central United States, open from November through March with skate rentals and rinkside hot chocolate. The Cricket Field hosts the Saint Louis Cricket Club and is one of the few competition-grade cricket pitches in the Midwest. The Visitor's Center on Lindell Boulevard at the park's south entrance is staffed daily, offers free maps and walking-tour guides, and runs the headquarters of Forest Park Forever, the nonprofit that manages the park's $300 million endowment in partnership with the City of St. Louis.