Meramec Greenway - Lower Meramec Park

Lower Meramec Park and the Meramec Greenway Trail are part of a restoration of the lower Meramec River corridor, funded in part through bond issues and flood buy-out programs after major floods in 1979, 1982, and 1993, when water stood more than 10 feet deep for over four weeks. The buy-outs relocated people and removed structures from flood-prone areas, allowing the land to recover naturally. The lower Meramec Valley also preserves a long human and natural history: Mississippi culture mound builders flourished from 900 to 1400AD, with their cultural center near the mouth of the Meramec at Cahokia and satellite villages along the lower river; later the Illini Confederation, especially the Tamaroa, fished, hunted, and farmed in the valley before war and disease drove the remaining Illini west in the 19th century. Europeans including Father Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet traveled the region in 1673, and by the early 1700s the French were mining lead, copper, and iron in the valley and shipping them downriver. The river corridor supports diverse wildlife including Red-shouldered Hawks, Great Egrets, seven species of woodpeckers, gar, and American eels, while its pools, riffles, and protected riparian corridor sustain aquatic life and help keep the river healthy. Established in 1975, the Meramec Greenway was created to coordinate recovery of 108 miles of the lower river after years of abuse and neglect, and its restoration has helped return good water quality, recovering natural beauty, and extensive public park and conservation lands.

Missouri · United States