Apotheosis of St. Louis

The Saint Louis Art Museum (SLAM) is one of the principal U.S. art museums, with paintings, sculptures, cultural objects, and ancient masterpieces from all corners of the world. Its three-story building stands in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri, where it is visited by up to a half million people every year. Admission is free through a subsidy from the cultural tax district for St. Louis City and County.In addition to the featured exhibitions, the museum offers rotating exhibitions and installations. These include the Currents series, which features contemporary artists, as well as regular exhibitions of new media art and works on paper.

The Bayer Insectarium is an insectarium located within the Saint Louis Zoo in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. Having opened in 2000 and designed by David Mason & Associates with a cost of $4 million, this 9,000 square feet (840 m2) facility houses educational exhibits and an active breeding and research facility. It also includes a window to the exhibits area and two-way communications so visitors may watch entomologists work and ask them questions. The facility even includes a geodesic flight dome cage, which is home to numerous rainforest flowers and butterfly species.The Bayer Insectarium is open every day except Christmas and New Years days. Admission to the zoo and the insectarium is free.

The Forest Park Golf Course, also known as the Courses at Forest Park or the Norman Probstein Community Golf Course, opened in 1912 as a nine-hole golf course. The original course was designed by Scotsman Robert Foulis, an employee of the Old Course at St Andrews, while a second and third set of nine holes were finished in 1913 and 1915. In 1929, the Forest Park Golf Course was home to the U.S. Amateur Public Links Championship.Between 2001 and 2004, the three courses and the clubhouse were rebuilt under the direction of course designer Stan Gentry. The rebuilding project initially was funded by St. Louis developer Norman Probstein with a gift of $2 million, followed by donations of $2 million from Eagle Golf, $2.4 million from the Danforth Foundation, $4.5 million from Forest Park Forever, and $1.6 million from the city of St. Louis. The three rebuilt courses are named for trees in St. Louis: the Hawthorn is a relatively flat and walkable layout; the Dogwood is a somewhat hilly course with a water fairway; and the Redbud is very hilly and the most challenging layout of the three. One glass-enclosed clubhouse serves all three courses, and it includes a restaurant open to all park users known as Ruthie's Grill. After the completion of the renovations, the Forest Park Golf Course was named the Best Golf Course in St. Louis by the local alternative newspaper, the Riverfront Times.

The Saint Louis Zoo, officially known as the Saint Louis Zoological Park, is a zoo in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri. It is recognized as a leading zoo in animal management, research, conservation, and education. The zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). Admission is free based on a public subsidy from a cultural tax district, the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District (ZMD); fees are charged for some special attractions. A special feature is the 2 ft (610 mm) narrow-gauge Emerson Zooline Railroad with passenger trains pulled by Chance Rides C.P. Huntington locomotives that encircle the zoo, stopping at the more popular attractions.The city purchased its first exhibit, the Flight Cage, from the Smithsonian Institution following the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. After the zoo was established in 1910, new exhibits, areas, and buildings were added through the decades to improve care of the animals, the range of animals and habitats shown, and education and interpretation. The head of the male lesser kudu, with his elegant spiraled horns, is the symbol of the Saint Louis Zoo. In September 2017, the Saint Louis Zoo teamed up with the Missouri Botanical Garden and Washington University in St. Louis in a conservation effort known as the Living Earth Collaborative. The collaborative, run by Washington University scientist Jonathan Losos, seeks to promote further understanding of the ways humans can help to preserve the varied natural environments that allow plants, animals, and microbes to survive and thrive. Some of their other ongoing conservation efforts include the #byetobags movement, encouraging the use of reusable bags, and their turtle-tracking program, which tracks location, population, and health of the box turtle population of Forest Park. In 2017 and 2018, the zoo was chosen by USA Today as the best in the United States.

Turtle Park (also Turtle Playground) is a sculpture park located at the southern edge of Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri at the intersection of Oakland Avenue and Tamm Avenue. The park contains seven concrete turtles and one snake. The turtles were designed and sculpted by Bob Cassilly and the park opened in August 1996. Turtle Park can be seen from Interstate 64 and the Saint Louis Zoo to the north.

The Missouri History Museum in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri, showcases Missouri history. It is operated by the Missouri Historical Society, which was founded in 1866. Museum admission is free through a public subsidy by the Metropolitan Zoological Park and Museum District.

The Great Forest Park Balloon Race is an annual hot air balloon festival held in Forest Park in St. Louis, Missouri. With more than 70 entrants and 130,000 spectators, it is the most well-attended single-day hot air balloon race in the United States.

Forest Park is a public park in western St. Louis, Missouri. It is a prominent civic center and covers 1,326 acres (5.37 km2). Opened in 1876, more than a decade after its proposal, the park has hosted several significant events, including the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904 and the 1904 Summer Olympics. Bounded by Washington University in St. Louis, Skinker Boulevard, Lindell Boulevard, Kingshighway Boulevard, and Oakland Avenue, it is known as the "Heart of St. Louis" and features a variety of attractions, including the St. Louis Zoo, the St. Louis Art Museum, the Missouri History Museum, and the St. Louis Science Center.Since the early 2000s, it has carried out a $100 million restoration through a public-private partnership aided by its Master Plan. Changes have extended to improving landscaping and habitat as well. The park's acreage includes meadows and trees and a variety of ponds, manmade lakes, and freshwater streams. For several years, the park has been restoring prairie and wetlands areas of the park. It has reduced flooding and attracted a much greater variety of birds and wildlife, which have settled in the new natural habitats.

Dwight Davis Tennis Center is a public tennis facility in Forest Park, St. Louis, Missouri. The center has 18 lighted tennis courts and 4 pickleball courts. The pickleball courts were added in 2017 and are painted on its Stadium Court which has adjacent seating for 1,100 spectators. The tennis courts formerly at this location were called the Jefferson Memorial courts. In 1966, the Jefferson Memorial courts were renovated, expanded and renamed the Dwight Davis Tennis Courts in honor of prominent St. Louis politician and namesake of the Davis Cup, Dwight F. Davis.The site was one of several St. Louis sites featured in the book of archival photographs titled "Forest Park: The Jewel of St. Louis", published by St. Louis Post-Dispatch Books.Dwight Davis Tennis Center is a 501(c) nonprofit. It was first registered with the State of Missouri in 1964 by founders S.E. Freund, Harry G, Burrus, Harry Lueke and Thomas W. White. Apted-Hulling Inc. took over management of the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in April 2004. Dwight Davis Tennis Center hosted the World Team Tennis Tour and was the home court for the St. Louis Aces. Apted-Hulling purchased the St. Louis Aces in 2004 and the team later folded effective January 1, 2012 after Apted-Hulling was unable to find a buyer for the franchise.

Wydown/Skinker is a neighborhood in St. Louis, Missouri. Washington University in St. Louis is located just north of this neighborhood. The neighborhood is bounded by the city limits on the west, Forsyth Boulevard on the north, Forest Park (Skinker Blvd.) on the east and Clayton Avenue on the south. The Missouri Historical Society Library & Research Center is located in the Wydown/Skinker neighborhood.

The St. Louis School of Fine Arts was founded as the Saint Louis School and Museum of Fine Arts in 1879 as part of Washington University in St. Louis, and has continuously offered visual arts and sculpture education since then. Its purpose-built building stood in downtown St. Louis on Lucas Place. After about 25 years of operation, in 1909, a legal conflict over funding split the organization into two parts: the school and its art collection, which remained part of privately held Washington University, and a public civic art museum, which became the Saint Louis Art Museum. The art school moved to the university campus. With changes of name and location on campus, it continued operations up until 2006 when the school was incorporated into the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, which spans graduate and undergraduate arts curriculum, graduate and undergraduate schools of architecture, and the university's art collection in its Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts is a part of Washington University in St. Louis. The Sam Fox School was founded in 2006 by uniting the academic units of Architecture and Art with the University's Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum to create a unique new paradigm for design education. It is dedicated in honor of donor, former United States Ambassador to Belgium, and owner of Harbour Group Industries, Sam Fox. The School comprises: College of Architecture Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design College of Art Graduate School of Art Mildred Lane Kemper Art MuseumCarmon Colangelo is the Ralph J. Nagel Dean of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.