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Photo: Joel Krauska from San Francisco, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Accredited by the American Association of Museums, Laumeier Sculpture Park is one of a handful of open-air museums around the world and a unique compliment to the cultural landscape of St. Louis. Free to all and well worth a visit.
Laumeier Sculpture Park is a 105-acre open-air museum and sculpture park located in Sunset Hills, Missouri, near St. Louis. Laumeier is maintained in partnership with St. Louis County Parks and Recreation Department. It houses over 70 large-scale outdoor sculptures and features a 1.4-mile (2.3 km) walking trail, an indoor gallery, the Aronson Art Center, and educational programs. A 1917 Tudor stone mansion, the former residence of Henry and Matilda Laumeier, is now the Kranzberg Education Lab. Laumeier is accredited by the American Alliance of Museums. The park sees about 300,000 visitors each year and operates on a $1.5 million budget.
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Kirkwood's newly developed downtown area contains many local shops and restaurants. Also located downtown are Kirkwood City Hall and Kirkwood's historic Amtrak station.
Held every year in September in Kirkwood city park. At this festival are live band, arts and crafts, shops selling hand-crafted items, and many games and fun for kids. A staple of the festival is the addition of Folk Life which features folk crafts, foods, and displays showing what life was like nearly 250 years ago.
Planes, trains, and automobiles! Take a step back into history and explore this unique collection of cars, locomotives, trolleys and airplanes. Train and trolley rides, guided tours, car shows and even boats are on offer here. Good fun for adults and kids alike. Rail and transit collections encompass more than 190 major exhibits, ranging from an 1833 Boston & Providence Railroad passenger coach and the largest successful steam locomotive ever built to a 6,600-hp, two-engine Union Pacific diesel #6944 (“Centennial”) built in 1971.
Anheuser-Busch Companies runs and administers this attraction. Part historical site, part zoo and part fun, this location takes you to the ancestral home of the Busch family. Here you will see animals from common goats to camels and tortoises. The home that Ulysses S. Grant built after resigning his commission in the 1850s has been relocated to the property.