09/22/2020
Wellston's Trojan Park was recently honored with the Urban Land Institute's Urban Open Space Award.
Four years ago, a host of parks enthusiasts descended on Wellston. The National Recreation and Park Association was holding its annual conference in St. Louis, and with it came the organization’s Parks Build Community project — an initiative that deploys the association’s resources and corporate donations in service of building a new park or renovating an existing one to demonstrate the “transformative value of parks and recreation.”
The result was Trojan Park, a new one-acre park located on the St. Vincent Greenway. The park was truly a collaborative effort. Great Rivers Greenway secured and donated the land, and also worked to gather community input with the nonprofit Beyond Housing. The Municipal Park Grant Commission of St. Louis County provided $315,000 in funding, and St. Louis County and Wellston committed to maintaining it. Then the National Recreation and Park Association and its partners built the park from scratch — complete with two top-notch playgrounds, a basketball court and plenty of places for sitting or picnicking.
The park has quickly become a community favorite, and it’s not just Wellston residents who approve. The Urban Land Institute named Trojan Park one of two winners of this year’s Urban Open Space Award, which honors “outstanding examples of vibrant public open spaces that have been instrumental in promoting healthy, sustainable, and equitable outcomes in communities.”
SportsPlay Equipment, Inc. was a proud contributor to this project. Attached photos help document installation of our basketball bent post systems... which St. Louis native and former NBA star, Larry Hughes, enjoyed during the park's grand opening back in 2016.
