Rootwad Park is a treasure on the St. Louis riverfront, created by artist Bob Cassilly and his…read morecrew. Cassilly was the creative genius behind the extraordinary City Museum, housed in a former 10-story shoe factory in Downtown West, St. Louis. Rootwad Park was among his later projects.
Cassilly died in 2011 while working on Cementland, his ambitious, unfinished project at a former industrial cement plant in Riverview, just north of St. Louis. Cementland was envisioned as an otherworldly landscape of machinery, waterways, and monumental art. After his death, lengthy estate proceedings delayed its future. Fires, theft, vandalism, and graffiti further marred the unfinished site, damaging its structures and remaining artwork. Beelman Truck Co. acquired 16 riverfront acres in 2020 and the remaining 40 acres at auction in 2022. Cementland stands as a dream unfinished, its fate uncertain. Explore Cementland's history through YouTube videos, photos, articles, and the online Cementland Archive. Cementland remains a dangerous, restricted zone.
Rootwad Park takes its name from rootwads, the gnarled root stumps found on river driftwood. A 2006 St. Louis Post-Dispatch article noted Cassilly's plans to incorporate large pieces of driftwood into the park's design. The caterpillar sculpture is integrated into a pedestrian bridge, and its body is formed from massive circular metal ends salvaged from cement mixers at Cementland. Old metal cross-ties from streetcar tracks near the City Museum, recovered during Washington Avenue resurfacing, became the spiky hair on the caterpillar's back. A separate pedestrian bridge with an elaborate metal railing arches above a guardian face emerging from the structure and overlooking the park entrance. A giant concrete-and-brick turtle rests nearby, while sinuous concrete snakes wind through the ground. The result is a surreal, unconventional landscape.
Raw concrete and weathered metal blend with tall grasses and greenery along the trail, while old industrial buildings provide a historic backdrop for Cassilly's sculptures. In 2006, Trailnet, a nonprofit promoting bicycling and trails, announced plans to develop Rootwad Park. According to Cassilly's longtime collaborator Kurt Knickmeyer, the completed sculptures represented only part of a broader artistic vision left unfinished.
Rootwad Park lies along the Mississippi River beside the historic Laclede Power Company building (built in 1901; Italian Renaissance Revival), a short walk north of Laclede's Landing along the Riverfront Trail.
A public Riverfront Trail parking lot lies on the south side of Rootwad Park, beside the Ashley Street Power House (built in 1902 for Union Electric Light and Power Company; Beaux-Arts/Renaissance Revival).
Rootwad Park is a public space along the Riverfront Trail, used by pedestrians, bicyclists, and photographers attracted to its sculptures and historic industrial surroundings. It also hosts outdoor music shows, underground electronic music gatherings, and alternative community events, reflecting St. Louis's grassroots arts scene.
In 2015, a proposed north riverfront football stadium threatened Rootwad Park and the surrounding historic landscape. Buildings slated for demolition included the Cotton Belt Freight Depot, bearing the Migrate mural; the Laclede Power Company building; the William A. Kerr Foundation building; FarmWorks; Stamping Lofts; Shady Jack's Saloon; and other historic structures. The Ashley Street Power House was to be spared. The proposal threatened much of the North Riverfront Industrial Historic District and part of the North Broadway Wholesale & Warehouse Historic District. Initially, Rootwad Park was reported to be within the stadium's demolition zone. Later reports suggested it might be incorporated into the stadium design, but renderings released in September 2015 showed the sculptures would not remain. The stadium proposal ultimately collapsed. Nearby, the Beck & Corbitt Iron Company warehouse (destroyed by fire in 2022) and Shapleigh Hardware Warehouse No. 3 (destroyed by fire in 2024) were tragic losses of the area's industrial heritage.
The proposed stadium would have sacrificed the riverfront's historic character for development that risked more traffic, congestion, noise, environmental damage, and visual blight. Historic buildings can find new life as lofts, studios, workshops, and small businesses. Laclede's Landing, once known for its lively nightlife, offers an example of this potential, with historic buildings renovated into lofts. Great Rivers Greenway's North Riverfront Open Space & Redevelopment Plan, discussed in a 2024 update, envisions parks, recreation, and private development across the broader riverfront. Although no approved redevelopment plan for the Laclede Power Company building is identified here, it could become a trailhead or community destination. Preserving the park and surrounding industrial heritage would keep this distinctive riverfront alive.