How Much Do You Know About University City Parks?

Test your knowledge of University City Parks. The answers are at the end.

1. What is the largest U. City park? (Easy question.)
2. What is the second-largest one? (Tough question.)
3. What is the oldest one? (Based on the date the city acquired the land.)
4. What is the newest one?
5. In 1923, U. City began a tradition of naming parks for mayors. Which two parks are named for someone other than a mayor?
6. Which former mayor doesn’t have a city park named for him?
7. Which mayor was honored most recently, and where is his park?
8. Why is Ackert Park so long and skinny?
9. Which two parks have ADA-compliant playgrounds?
10. Which park gave its neighbors that sinking feeling in 1999?

Answers:

3. (1922—the year the Dept. of Parks and Recreation was established)
4. (1995)
5. , chairman of the U. City Planning Commission 1920-1945, and Rabie (pronounced “Robbie”), a family which donated the land for the park
6. Andrew O. Cunningham. He had a park, but lost it to Urban Renewal in the ‘60s. He now has an industrial park bearing his name.
7. . His park is on Big Bend, south of Forsyth.
8. It’s the former right-of-way of the Kirkwood-Ferguson streetcar.
9. and Flynn.
10. . Formerly a quarry, it has always been prone to subsidence. In 1999, a nearby Metropolitan Sewer District project caused the park to sink so much that a large pond formed in the middle. Surrounding buildings were threatened.

How did you do? Score 1 point per right answer.

8-10. Excellent! You must have been on the U. City Parks Foundation tour, June 24, conducted by Ewald Winkler of the Parks Department and Sue Rehkopf of the Historical Society. That’s where I learned all this information.

5-7 Good! You must be a longtime U. City resident who’s proud of your town.

3-4 Fair.  You have much to discover about the wonderful parks of U. City.

0-2 Terrible! Go back to Clayton!