Forest Park Highlands Explained

Forest Park Highlands was an American amusement park in St. Louis, Missouri. It operated from 1896 to 1963.

Forest Park Highlands opened in 1896 as a beer garden.[1]

Sophie Tucker, John Philip Sousa, and Jack Dempsey appeared there.

It featured a pagoda from the 1904 World's Fair held across the street in Forest Park.[2] It also had a ferris wheel, railway, dodgem cars, tiltawhirls, shooting galleries, doll throws, and wheels of chance.

By 1963, the park was struggling and there was interest in building a community college on the site. A fire on July 19, 1963, destroyed all but the swimming pool and the frame of the wooden roller coaster.[3] Two years later, it was announced that St. Louis Community College–Forest Park would be built on the land.[4] [5]

The park's 1920 Dentzel carousel survived the fire and operates today at Faust Park in Chesterfield, Missouri.

References

  1. News: Forest Park Highlands Closing Would Be Removal of Landmark. 1963-01-13. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 3. Proquest.
  2. Book: Garner, Doug. Forest Park Highlands. 2007. Arcadia Publishing. 978-0-7385-5162-3. en.
  3. News: Amusement Park Razed in St. Louis Fire. 1963-07-20. Chicago Tribune. 2. Proquest.
  4. News: Out of Ruins, a Campus. 1965-08-01. St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 32–33. Proquest.
  5. Web site: 21 Vintage Photos of Forest Park Highlands Amusement Park. 2016-07-11. Riverfront Times Slideshows. en-US. 2020-04-05.

External links