The first African-American people came to the area of North Webster in the early 1800s as enslaved people farming the woodlands. Many freed African-American people stayed in North Webster after slavery was abolished, and the North Webster community was founded. By the early 1900s, the North Webster community had a thriving business district with groceries, churches, barber shops and African-American doctors and dentists. Douglass High School, one of the best high schools in Missouri for African-American students, was built in the community, and many African-American families moved there so their children could receive an excellent education. African-American students from throughout St. Louis County attended Douglass High School, the first and only accredited high school for African-Americans in St. Louis County until 1954, when schools were desegregated. Lorraine Davis, a North Webster resident who taught English and Latin at Douglass High School, gave her name to Lorraine Davis Park. She was also a member of the O.D.T. Club, organized in Webster Groves in the 1930s, and worked with it to provide scholarships and encourage neighborhood beautification and other civic projects. Deer Creek begins in Creve Coeur and Shady Creek begins in Glendale; they join at Lorraine Davis Park and continue to the River des Peres. Over the years, people gathered along these creek banks to fish, eat together and share stories, and the Deer Creek Greenway and other regional greenways trace the waterways that underlie communities in the St. Louis region and connect people to one another, the surrounding nature and the greater community.