Fort Belle Fontaine County Park

38°49′30″N 90°13′08″W / 38.825°N 90.219°W / 38.825; -90.219Area305.6 acres (123.7 ha)Created1986Operated bySt. Louis County Parks and Recreation DepartmentWebsiteSt Louis County Parks and Recreation

The Fort Belle Fontaine County Park is a unit of the park system of St. Louis County, Missouri. 305.6 acres in size, it is bordered by the Missouri River, by Cold Water Creek, and by the Missouri Hills campus of the Missouri Division of Youth Services (M-DYS).^[1]

The park contains part of the site of Fort Bellefontaine, a fortified post of the United States Army first raised in 1805. The post was visited by Lewis and Clark Expedition upon their return to St. Louis in September 1806. It remained in active service, in two adjacent locations, until 1826. None of the fort remains today. As of 2014, historic markers and signage educated visitors about the vanished post.^[1][2]

The fort's location was built up in the 1930s as a parkland development project of the Works Progress Administration. Some WPA facilities remained in use in 2014, and others had evolved into picturesque ruined structures.^[2] A three-mile-long nature trail provides access to the creek ravine, WPA masonry, and the site of the vanished fort and trading post.^[3][2] Part of the parkland has been set aside as a reproduction tallgrass prairie, sown with big bluestem grasses and allied species.^[2] In the creekbed woods and adjacent uplands can be found the basswood, the burr oak, the chinquapin oak, and other mature-growth species of trees.^[1]

The park shares a common boundary and entry point with the M-DYS juvenile detention center, and as of 2014 visitors to the park were asked to stop and sign in at a security checkpoint.^[1]

St. Louis
City parks

Maintained by city

Aboussie Park Alaska Park Aloe Plaza Aloe Plaza West Amberg Park Amherst Park Jet Banks Park Barrett Brothers Park Beckett Playground Bellerive Park Benton Park Louis G. "Midge" Berra Park North Riverfront Park Eugene "Tink" Bradley Park Buder Playground Busche Park Carnegie Park Carondelet Park Carondelet Lions Park Carr Square Jordan W. Chambers Park Cherokee Park Chouteau Park Christy Park Citygarden Clifton Heights Park Compton Hill Reservoir Park Costello Park De Soto Park Dickman Park Dwight Davis Park Eads Square Park Ellendale and Arsenal Park Fairground Park Fanetti Plaza Forest Park Fountain Park Fourteenth Street Mall Fox Park Father Filipiac Park Francis Park Franz Park Fremont Park Gamble Park Garrison-Brantner-Webster Park Gateway Mall Gwen B. Giles Park Grand Center Park Gravois Park Hamilton Heights Park W.C. Handy Park David Hickey Park Hyde Park Interco Plaza Jackson Place Park Kaufmann Park Kennedy Park Kenrick Garden Triangle Park Kiener Plaza Kingsbury Square Park Laclede Park Lafayette Park Joe Leisure Park Ray Leisure Park Lindenwood Park Lucas Garden Park Phillip Lucier Park Lyon Park Marquette Park May Amphitheater McDonald Park Memorial Plaza Mestres Park Minnesota & Hill Park Minniewood Park Mount Pleasant Park O'Fallon Park Parkland Park Penrose Park Ivory Perry Park Poelker Park Pontiac Square Park Ruth Porter Park River Des Peres Park River Des Peres Extension Rumbold Park Ernest J. Russell Park Serra Sculpture Park Sherman Park Sister Marie Charles Park Soulard Playground South St. Louis Square Park St. Louis Place Park St. Marcus Commemorative Park Strodtman Park Sublette Park Tambo Park Tandy Park Robert Terry Park Tiffany Park Rosalie Tilles Park Milton Turner Playground Unity Park Vivian and Astra Park Walnut Park Washington Square Park Willmore Park Windsor Park Yeatman Square Park

Others

Gateway Arch National Park Leon Strauss Park Luther Ely Smith Square Tower Grove Park

St. Louis
County parks

North area	Bella Fontaine Park General Daniel Bissell House County Park Bon Oak Park Castlepoint State Park Champ Park Endicott Park Fort Belle Fontaine Park King Park Kinloch Park Larimore Park McDonnell Park Sioux Passage Park Spanish Lake Park St. Vincent Park Vago Park Veterans Memorial Park
West area	Creve Coeur Park Ebsworth Park Faust Park Greensfelder Park Lone Elk Park Love Park Queeny Park Shaw Park Stacy Park Tilles Park West Tyson Park
South area	Bee Tree Park Black Forest Park Bohrer Park Buder Park Cliff Cave Park Clydesdale Park Jefferson Barracks Park Laumeier Sculpture Park Lemay Park Mathilda-Welmering Park Ohlendorf Park Simpson Park Suson Park Sylvan Springs Park Unger Park George Winter Park
State Parks	Babler State Park

St. Charles
County parks

Maintained by county	Bangert Island Broemmelsiek Park College Meadows Park Flatwoods Park Hideaway Harbor Park Indian Camp Creek Park Kinetic Park Klondike Park Matson Hill Park Missouri Bluffs Park The Park at New Melle Lakes Quail Ridge Park Towne Park Veterans Tribute Park
O'Fallon	Civic Park Dames Park Fort Zumwalt Park Knaust Park Westhoff Park
St. Peters	(20 city parks)
State Parks	Katy Trail State Park (eastern end)

Jefferson
County parks

Maintained w/in county	Arnold City Park Brown's Ford Park Byrnes Mill Park Cedar Hill Park Dunklin-Fletcher Memorial Park Ferd B. Lang Park Flamm City Park Hillsboro City Park Jefferson County Winter Park Morse Mill Park Rockford Beach Park Sunridge Park Sunset Park Walthers Park West City Park
State Parks	Don Robinson State Park

Lincoln
County parks

Troy	Avery Park Fairgrounds Park Weinand Park
State Parks	Cuivre River State Park

Metro East
(Illinois)

Clinton County	Carlyle Lake
Madison County	Chouteau Island Gabaret Island Mosenthein Island
St. Clair County	Southside Park
State Parks	Cahokia Horseshoe Lake State Park Pere Marquette State Park