Fire Cleared Forest Park Highlands, St. Louis Community College Forest Park Opened 7 Years Later
The site of St. Louis Community College at Forest Park was a popular amusement park since 1896, but it came to a dramatic end 49 years ago today:
July 19, 1963: St. Louis’s most popular amusement park went up in flames as a fire of unknown origin swept through Forest Park Highlands, leaving only scorched debris. Located just south of Forest Park on land now occupied by St. Louis Community College, the Highlands had been a favorite site for picnics since before the turn of the century. It was a place to enjoy the roller coaster, merry-go-round, Ferris wheel, and fun house, with its maze of tipsy floors and disorienting mirrors. The park also had an excellent pool and a dance pavilion where, in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, leading bands performed.
Always a respectable resort, the Highlands enforced strict rules for dress and behavior. In 1913, for example, the management banned the tango, the turkey trot, the bunny hug, and the grizzly bear on grounds that these dances were “indecent, immoral, and detrimental to public morals.” The only new dance to pass the decency test that year was the hesitation waltz. (From the book St. Louis Day By Day by Francis Hurd Stadler).
A year before the fire voters approved establishing the “Junior College District of St. Louis-St. Louis County and a board of trustees”, a 1961 Missouri law made this possible. Meramec and Florissant Valley came first with temporary facilities in 1963. The Forest Park campus on the Highlands site opened in 1970 (see STLCC history).
The carousel from the Highlands survived the fire and is located in Faust Park:
The St. Louis Carousel is home to an original carousel created by the Dentzel Company of Philadelphia in the 1920’s. The Carousel was installed in 1929 at the Forest Park Highlands. When the Highlands burned to the ground in 1963, the carousel was the only thing left standing. Howard C. Ohlendorf purchased the carousel to prevent it from being dismantled and donated it to St. Louis County Parks in 1965. The department operated it during the summer months at Sylvan Springs Park until 1980. The St. Louis County Historic Buildings Commission and Faust Cultural Heritage Foundation raised enough money to restore the carousel to its original beauty and installed it in a climate controlled building in Faust Park in 1987. (St. Louis County Parks & Recreation)
Additional resources:
- A Look Back • A raging fire in 1963 ended 67 years of fun at the Highlands (with 15 excellent images)
- ForestParkHighlands.com — impressive resource!
- Video from KETC
I can’t help but wonder what would’ve become of the Highlands had it not been destroyed by fire. Would it still be open and popular? Would it have died a slow death?
— Steve Patterson
You pose a question that will never be answered. I’m familiar with a couple of comparable parks that have faded away and several that are still in operation, and even thriving. The biggest unknown, here, is what effect Six Flags would have had, or even if Six Flags, opened in 1971 – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_Flags_St._Louis would have been built is FPH had not burned? Given FPH’s location, right off of 64/40 and close to the zoo, I can see where it could still be going strong today, assuming good management and balancing new rides with old ones.
Interestingly, FPH isn’t the only local amusement park to bite the dust. I’ve read about the Chain of Rocks Park and Meramec Highlands – http://www.meramechighlands.com/river.html – and the Forest Park Highlands website lists several others – http://www.forestparkhighlands.com/otherparks.html Then there’s the lingering rumors that Disney could’ve been in St. Louis instead of Orlando – http://www.theledger.com/article/20080802/COLUMNISTS/808030319 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Disney%27s_Riverfront_Square – that could have posed a real challenge!
Parks that have faded away:
Fontaine Ferry, Louisville, KY – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fontaine_Ferry_Park – location probably was a big issue there, since it was in Louisville’s West End, comparable to North City here.
Coney Island, Cincinnati, OH – http://coneyislandpark.com/history.php – the combination of repeated flooding and new competition (Kings Island) did them in.
Parks still in operation:
Lakeside, Denver, CO – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakeside_Amusement_Park http://www.lakesideamusementpark.com/
Kennywood, Pittsburgh, PA – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennywood http://www.kennywood.com/
Cedar Point, Sandusky, OH – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cedar_Point http://www.cedarpoint.com/
In 1960 while I was in USAF tech school at Lowry AFB, Denver had another amusement park out on the NW side, Elitches Gardens (or a name possibly spelled slightly differently). It was small and _very_ family oriented, possibly even religiously aligned if memory serves me right.
You’re right, Elitch Gardens was much like Lakeside, only “nicer”. Unfortunately, in the 1980’s, it “relocated” to the Central Platte Valley, close to downtown, right off of I-25, with a completely new facility. When I left Denver in 2004, its operation had been taken over by Six Flags; it appears that Six Flags is no longer involved – http://elitchgardens.com/
The only good news is that the old site did end up being a pretty good example of urban infill – http://www.highlandsgardenvillage.net/ http://www.epa.gov/dced/case/highland.htm
And FYI, Lowry is no longer an air force base; it too is a good example of urban infill – http://www.lowry.org/
Sitting here right now and telling my wife about this article, she is bringing up memories of she and her sister walking, as adults, to that amusement from their apartment on Louisville long about 1962 possibly.
Alf
Highlands would have been demolished anyway. Real estate development, road builders, oil companies, chain businesses pushed for the destruction of Old St. Louis and they have been largely successful. It is a regional plan designed for capitalist success, or least those on the automobile side of capitalism. Does it work? what is the answer, no? or hell no?
Truly I doubt the Highlands would of survived given the overall destruction of the City of St. Louis to date. The old regime still calls the shots.
What an interesting “what-if!” IF the Highlands would have stayed and thrived, would there have been more financial incentive to save the old Arena? If the Arena hadn’t been abandoned for Keil/Scottrade/Savvis Center, what would have become of Keil/Peabody Opera House?
I think Six Flags in some form still probably would have been built, given the abandonment of the city in other aspects of St. Louis life, which would have killed Highlands…
Too bad that the buildings that replaced the Highlands make the whole site look like a prison complex. Sorry, Emily Rauh Pulitzer, these buildings are ugly. Really, just put a double-chain fence around the entire group, top it with some razor wire, et voila! Prison! Just can’t stand driving past it, it is that unattractive to me.
As for the Highlands, I was born in 1963, in OKC. (Thank goodness my dad was transferred two years later to the STL; kind of wish he had been transferred to Seattle, tho’…or something)