I’ve taken my kids sledding on Art Hill.
I’ve walked the Zoo, wandered the trails and, years ago, even rode a Forest Park Century, circling the park roughly 17 times to complete a 100-mile ride.
Like generations of St. Louisans, I’ve spent countless hours in Forest Park.
So, when I learned a new book celebrating Forest Park’s 150th anniversary was coming out, I immediately thought about the park’s Jewish history.
I’d written about parts of it before.
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That sent me digging through the Jewish Light archives.
There I found something I hadn’t known.
Nearly two decades before this year’s anniversary, two Jewish authors, Sally J. Altman and Richard H. Weiss, had already written a book about Forest Park.
Reading Jewish Light Editor-in-Chief Emeritus Robert A. Cohn’s 2008 review of “Forest Park: The Jewel of St. Louis” led me back through years of the Jewish Light’s own reporting on Forest Park’s Jewish history.
The deeper I read, the clearer one thing became.
Jewish history in Forest Park isn’t confined to a single monument or memorial.
It’s woven throughout the park itself.
A legacy woven into the park
Altman and Weiss documented how Jewish St. Louisans helped shape Forest Park through civic leadership, philanthropy, preservation efforts and cultural institutions, a theme that echoed throughout Cohn’s reporting over the years.
Perhaps nowhere is that more visible than the Jewish Tercentenary Monument along Lindell Boulevard.
Jewish community in Forest Park in 1989, are (from left) civic
leader Howard Baer, chair of the committee to raise the funds
needed and benefactors Stanley and Lucy Lopata, whose generous gift
made restoration of the monument possible. Photo: David M.
Henschel
Dedicated in 1956, the monument commemorates 300 years of Jewish settlement in North America. Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman helped lead the effort to create it, while civic leader Howard Baer played a key role in bringing the project to life. When the monument later fell into disrepair, Baer again stepped forward to help restore it.
A Jewish connection to the 1904 World’s Fair
Forest Park’s Jewish story reaches one of the park’s biggest moments in history as well.
According to Cohn’s reporting, the Zionist flag, which later became the flag of the state of Israel, flew above the Hall of Nations during the 1904 World’s Fair. It is believed to have been the first public display of the flag alongside those of other nations at a world’s fair.
The World’s Fair also connects to another Jewish St. Louisan whose name remains part of Forest Park today.
Nathan Frank helped bring the World’s Fair to St. Louis, founded the St. Louis Star newspaper and became Missouri’s first Jewish member of Congress. His gift of the bandstand near The Muny remains one of the park’s enduring landmarks.
Generations of Jewish leadership
Altman and Weiss also chronicled the continuing influence of Jewish civic leaders into the modern era. Among them was Mary Goldstein Stolar, one of the driving forces behind Forest Park Forever, whose leadership helped launch the effort to restore and revitalize the park.
Their research, along with Cohn’s reporting, also points readers to the Bertha Guggenheim Memorial Fountain, Steinberg Skating Rink, Lopata Plaza and generations of Jewish philanthropy that strengthened institutions including the St. Louis Zoo and the Saint Louis Art Museum.
Looking at Forest Park differently
Forest Park belongs to everyone in St. Louis.
Its story includes visionaries, philanthropists, artists, civic leaders and volunteers from every corner of the community.
As the park celebrates its 150th anniversary, the new book offers an opportunity to celebrate Forest Park’s history. It also serves as a reminder that nearly 20 years ago, two Jewish authors documented the park’s remarkable story and that the Jewish Light, through Robert A. Cohn’s reporting, helped preserve the Jewish threads woven throughout it.
I’ve sledded down Art Hill, walked the trails and ridden lap after lap around its perimeter.
Looking back, I realize I wasn’t just passing through Forest Park.
I was passing through generations of Jewish St. Louis history.
Want to explore more?
“Forest Park: The Jewel of St. Louis” by Sally J. Altman and Richard H. Weiss remains available through several booksellers, including STLtoday Store, AbeBooks and ThriftBooks.
