Forest Park, one of Jack Corbett's Ten Wonders of St. Louis

One cannot come here without getting a sense of the past, of this city's and country's greatness, just filling the horizon a century ago. Forest Park's buildings and grounds recapture an earlier age visited by over twenty million Americans at the 1904 World's Fair held here, as an entire nation looked forward to a future without limits.--holding fast to a vision of a world of unprecedented prosperity, scientific achievement, humanity and wisdom. It still fills the air here. The difference is people believed it at the turn of the 20th century. Today, it is but an illusion of the way things should be, but will never happen in an imperfect world.

Haunting in a way but it really isn't given the overall atmosphere of Forest Park. There are joggers and bicyclists everywhere. The park has its own golf course. Its zoo is one of the finest in the world. There is much to do here and much more than you can see in even a big day. On Art Hill is the Art Museum which was the center point of the 1904 Fair and which today, along with the aviary at the zoo is one of only two buildings left from the epochal event. The Planetarium and the Science Center face across from each other on opposite sides of route 40 yet visitors can easily walk between them via a passageway underneath the highway. The Jewel Box is a very large and picturesque outdoor greenhouse or climatron, built soon after the world's fair closed. Lastly, there's the Missouri History Museum, now bigger and more complete than ever with its new addition.

In many ways Forest Park is a symbol of what St Louis has to offer but is too often overlooked. One can start here or begin elsewhere. I have compiled Jack Corbett's Ten Wonders of St Louis, hopefully to give one a starting point. But don't stay only on the Missouri side of the Mississippi. Right across the river are the Cahokia Mounds and the famous East Side (or infamous if you prefer) Adult Night Life scene.