Wellston Neighborhood Park

Wellston Neighborhood Park

Yesterday morning, I had the opportunity to attend the groundbreaking for the new Wellston Neighborhood Park, at the NW corner of Stephen Jones and Plymouth Aves., about two blocks outside the St. Louis City limits and adjacent to Engelholm Creek, and about two blocks east of the Wellston MetroLink station.

Habitat for Humanity and others have helped finance construction of numerous new, modest homes on the blocks just to the east of this former gas station site. Just west is the MET Center, then the MetroLink stop, and across the tracks is the new business incubator (St. Louis Enterprise Centers - Wellston).

County Exec. Charlie Dooley was hilarious at the helm of the backhoe! Rather than a traditional shovel ceremony, this was a quick dump of gravel onto the future site of a ballfield, playground, picnic shelter/concession stand and basketball court.

This project is a great example of numerous regional players coming together over the course of several years. They include:

The City of Wellston
St. Louis County Economic Council
Greater St. Louis Regional Empowerment Zone
Great Rivers Greenway
Gateway Foundation
Cardinals Care

See this PDF
for more info on the ongoing revitalization of the southern half of Wellston.

While there's still a long way to go, Wellston is indeed on the road to revitalization.