Art through art.
Last weekend, the husband, pup, and I took a trip to Bob Cassilly’s art installation in Rootwad Park, just north of downtown. I don’t spend much time exploring this area, and I must say, if you love this city like I do, and have a value for it’s history, it’s worth taking a trip. So many beautiful buildings along RiverView Trail that really gives you a sense of what our city looked like decades ago.
Rootwad Park was Cassilly’s, founder of City Museum, last commissioned work. The small park featured Cassilly’s signature quirky style, the focal point being a large turtle appearing to eat an even large snake. Covered in graffiti, which old news articles portrayed as quite the scandal at the time, I found the illegal addition to add to the experience. Perhaps it’s a telling sign of my leniency around what’s acceptable in an urban community, but to me, the graffiti adds vibrancy and a sign of who’s passed through. (Although I realize we don’t need to know everyone’s personal phone number…).
The old Laclede Power Co building, which sits directly in front of Rootwad Park.
What made the park particularly appealing to me though, was the history surrounding it. The area is the start of the RiverTrail, which goes all the way up to the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge. The Laclede Power Co. building, which has been vacant since the 1970’s sits directly behind the park. A faded sign on the door suggests that there were plans to renovate it into a welcome center and office building, but a quick google search tells me not much has happened since 2009.
Just around the bend, at the Biddle Street Trail Head parking lot is the beautiful Ashley Street Power House. It was the first electric power plant built by Union Electric and still stands today as a majestic landmark on the river front.
There’s no doubt much more to explore around this area in North City. I highly encourage anyone who is interested in a little adventure and a history lesson to check out Rootwad Park and the surrounding area.
If you squint, you can see my family standing on the bridge. Portia, our bulldog, loved exploring.
urbanpioneerstl 