Trojan Park
Wellston, MO
2018
A New Park Where There Was None
Trojan Park began with a coalition. Great Rivers Greenway, Beyond Housing, and the National Recreation and Parks Association identified a one-acre parcel in Wellston — at the southwest corner of Etzel and Skinker — as the site for the NRPA’s annual Parks Build Community initiative. It was the first time in the initiative’s history that the NRPA would build a park entirely from scratch.
The design was straightforward and purposeful. Greenspace for gathering and informal play. Shade shelters with seating for the community to sit together. Playground equipment sized and programmed for the children who live in the neighborhood. Rain gardens to manage stormwater on a site with no existing infrastructure. A splash pad to provide relief during St. Louis summers. And the utility connections — water, electric, sanitary — needed to sustain all of it.
Client
Great Rivers Greenway
Size
1 Ac.
Photogrpahy
Courtesy of LJC Design & Engineering
Acknowledgement
Work Completed by the Kanopi Gap team while Employed at LJC Design & Engineering
The park also completes a physical link in the St. Vincent Greenway alignment — a 7-mile north-south trail connection through Pagedale and Wellston that is part of the 600-mile regional River Ring. Trojan Park is not just a destination; it is a node in a network that connects this community to the broader city.
What makes Trojan Park significant is not its size. It is the fact that it exists. A community with limited access to public space now has a park — designed for them, built with them, and recognized nationally as a model for what happens when the industry turns its attention to where it is most needed.
