Lewis Park

Peaceful and secluded, this University City park entrance can be a tad bit tricky to find. But once you do, sound the party alarm because it’s you’re in for a boatload of fun.
The playground sets here are fantastic and with lots of green space to enjoy, you’re in a good spot. On our visit, there were colorful dragonflys around the pond and flower area.
Peacefully surrounded by tall trees and rolling hills, you can nestle up to nature.

This park is a small hidden gem! When you drive down Delmar you can catch a glimpse of the playground and the pond.
I love the fact that its so close to home. We walked Charles here on Sunday afternoon and discover that the park is larger than expected. There is a cute pond with 3 water fountains in the middle and a decent size playground next to it.
The only con about this park is the parking. There is not a designated parking lot so finding a place to park will be tricky. If you walk here you will be fine but I do not suggest going out of your way for this park if you have to drive here.
For a neighborhood park you really cant ask for more.

Tracey W. and I came out to this place yesterday morning to scope it out. Man, is this place hard to access though!
It was a battle trying to get into this place. With the road construction on Delmar, neighborhoods not allowing parking for those who were not residential, and with no direct access path for parking to the park itself, this park make it extremely difficult to get into. It was like trying to crack open a safe without a blind fold in 1 minute or less without the combination code to get in. Seriously, it was that bad.
I guess you can look at it one of two ways. 1. It is for residents of the area, and they’re trying to maintain that fact for local use only… or 2. They are extremely unwelcoming to the outsiders such as us 2 city folk who wanted to enjoy the park’s amenities.
Personally I have only caught glance of the park while driving on Delmar only a couple of times. Unless you just make a point to look over in that direction and instead of on the road then you are going to miss it in a blink. The park isn’t that large. According to the website it covers 4 acres. Yeah, it is tiny, but they’ve got a few things that are appealing.
The reflection pond is super cute. It has a fish riding a bike statue in it, a central fountain, and two fountains on each side of the unique looking central fountain with benches on all sides for relaxation. The benches could certainly use some TLC. They’re kind of worn down. From all the people sitting on them with paint chipped and wood being kind of awkwardly bended, the benches are indeed worn out.
There is a playground for the kids to play on. It is quite large which is great for a play day and some long time to entertaining. They have ‘big kid’ and ‘little kid’ swings. So, if you want to take your 2 year old to swing, and they’re not old enough for the big kid swings yet, they can have fun just the same as your 5 year old on the big kid swings. As far as the jungle gyms, they’ve got some nice height in the slides which will be fun too.
As mentioned this place is really hard to access unless you’re residential and know how to enter from an access point. The access point starts off the walking trail around the park and continues throughout and around the park only dead ending back at where you started. We could see the access point, but had no clue to what road it let up to. We didn’t make a point to walk over there and see.
Overall it is a quaint neighborhood park. I think the residents in the area probably take solid advantage of it, and whole heartily enjoy it.

This park has been like the mythical land of freaking Narnia to me, man. I’ve driven by so many times and practically snapped my neck as I drove by the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it pocket of Pleasantville.
As you drive by on Delmar, you catch a glimpse of this idyllic, lusciously green park with fountains and people with 2.5 children and a family dog named Spot. It totally looks like the perfect place for my imaginary boyfriend to propose to me. I’ve tried no fewer than five times to go to this park, failing miserably each time to find somewhere to park. All the side streets surrounding the park maliciously warn potential visitors that the streets are private and parking is not permitted.
Determined to find the rabbit hole to Wonderland, I decided I would just park on Delmar since I remembered there being a shoulder. We pulled up and had not even put the car in park when a U-​City police officer, fresh off gestapo duty from a night of keeping the city safe from dangerous Honor Roll 12 year-​olds, pulled up alongside me and gave me the stink eye. She didn’t even say anything. Suddenly, a «no parking» sign appeared before me. I swear that sign was not there ever before or as I pulled up to the curb. U City is really starting to creep me out.
So I can’t tell you where I parked (because I’m already on strike two with the St. Louis Parking Violations Bureau), but I can tell you that if you try hard enough, you can find the door in the back of the wardrobe to Narnia Park. Except it isn’t a wardrobe. It’s an elitist neighborhood full of people who think they own public streets and public parks.
I think I built this park up too much, because up close it wasn’t that great. Very Mona Lisa. It smelled like piss, the grass was yellow and crunchy, and the Jesus-​esque Fish biking over the murky pond was more creepy than anything else. The playground was alright, but filled with Magnum wrappers, a stinging reminder that rich people have crazier sex lives and bigger penises than you.
I did enjoy the fountains, and guess I would come here again, but the fantasy has been shattered.
So, To Summarize:
–The grass is always greener in the park that has no parking.
–If you live in one of the mansions surrounding this park, you probably have a pool in your back yard and don’t need to come to this park, but it’s here for you if you get sick of your own 4 acres.
–I’ve warned my imaginary boyfriend not to propose to me here. Or at a sporting event of any kind. Or with a flash mob.