Introduce yourself to the Trail on June 17 for a fun
and leisurely Bike-A-Thon to benefit the maintenance of the Trail!
Get the sign up sheet
here.
Imagine trees, bike paths,
birds and eagles flying over blue skies. Feel the cool breeze, the warm
sunshine, enjoy a river baptism skit, a drum
and bugle corps or the celebration
of the Mary Meachum Freedom Crossing, the first nationally recognized
Underground Railroad site in Missouri. Stop by the old Coast Guard
Building Visitor’s Center and tour the Native Plant Nursery.
This is life on the Riverfront Trail! The
12-mile trail located 
along the Mississippi River in North St.
Louis has been beautified and revived through the efforts of
neighbors.
Most of the accomplishments of the Riverfront Trail are
done by Grace Hill’s AmeriCorps Trail Rangers
of neighborhood young
adults.
Grace Hill has 10
Trail Rangers who provide Trail
maintenance and are ambassadors of the adjacent communities for Trail
visitors. By
working on
the
Riverfront Trail,
the youth not only learned such things as team work, conflict resolution,
and good work ethics, but they learned skills that enabled them to work
towards careers in conservation
and environmental
preservation.
The Trail runs through the
following neighborhoods:
• Baden
• College Hill
•
Hyde Park
•
Murphy Blair
(Old North St. Louis)
The Riverfront Trail has
become an attraction in St. Louis and has acquired
the acclaim
of local,
state,
and federal politicians. Alderpersons
Dionne Flowers, Phyllis Young, April Ford Griffin, Freeman Bosley, Sr., and Governor Bob Holden, Mayor Francis
Slay, State
Rep. Connie Johnson,
and Congressman Lacy Clay are
all supporters of the Trail. Through their efforts and in collaboration
with Grace Hill, the Trail was paved in 1999,
signs posted
and an
ordinance to prevent automobiles from driving on the Trail became law.
The Trail has been designated a Millennium Trail by the White House, as
part of the Mississippi River Trail, and is within the
Confluence
Greenway,
which is in the process to become a
National Heritage Corridor.
The Trail not only draws
recreational dollars to North
St. Louis, but because of Grace Hill’s commitment to its neighbors helping
neighbors philosophy, the Trail has become a
community development stimulus.
Development stimulus initiatives
are supported by links with the
Business Center
of Grace Hill.
The Trail
Rangers assure that the adjacent communities are involved as well. For
instance, Trail Rangers sponsored a learning activity for the 5th grade class of Clay
Elementary School—after presentations
from the St. Louis
Port Authority
and Missouri Department of Conservation, the
students rode their bikes from the
school to the Trail to learn about the environment and to make notes about
where the Trail needs improvement. These notes were
presented to Alderman Bosley who praised their
civic participation. So far in 2003, over 300 community and area
residents have volunteered their services to the Trail and learned about
bio-diversity and cultural subjects.
