"How Do We Understand the Past?" Historical Marker

Located in Forest Park, this historical marker is part of the "History Underfoot: 1901" series of markers, which have been embedded in the ground throughout the city by the Missouri History Museum. The marker notes the discovery of six Native American mounds that were excavated during the preparations for the 1904 World's Fair and Olympic Games held in Forest Park. At the time, no efforts were made to preserve the mounds. This marker highlights indigenous history in St. Louis by acknowledging the Native American tribes who lived on this land prior to European settlement, while also raising the question, "How Do We Understand the Past?"

Prior to the era of colonial settlement by the French and Spanish, St. Louis was the hub of the largest Native American civilization north of Mexico. Along the banks of the Mississippi River, near St. Louis and Collinsville, Illinois, indigenous tribes built a civilization that was known as Cahokia. It thrived from around 900 C.E. to 1300 C.E. Also near St. Louis, Native Americans built an earthen structure called "The Big Mound," which was the largest of over two dozen such mounds in St. Louis, estimated at 30 feet high and 150 feet long. Used for religious ceremonies, it faced towards the river and was terraced into thirds. During the 1820s, European settlers built a resort at the top of the Big Mound, but by 1869, it was demolished, and the fill was used by the North Missouri Railroad Company.

In St. Louis's Forest Park, another Native American site revealed at least six distinct mounds, excavated just prior to the 1904 World's Fair and Olympic Games held in the park. The Missouri History Museum, one of the major cultural institutions located in Forest Park today, embedded a historical marker in the ground at the site. The marker notes the 1904 excavation of the mounds and prompts visitors to reflect on the question: "How Do We Understand the Past?" Although the mounds in Forest Park no longer exist, visitors do have the opportunity to explore the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site and Interpretive Center, which is located across the river in Collinsville, Illinois. This 2,200-acre UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to "Monk's Mound," the largest remaining earthen structure built by Native tribes in the U.S.

Another repository for indigenous history exists at the Mastodon State Historical Site, which is located about a half-hour south of downtown St. Louis on the west side of the river in Imperial, Missouri. This site highlights the pre-historic Ice Age mammals, such as mastodons, that once roamed freely through what is now the midwestern U.S., while showing how Native peoples relied on these mega-fauna and other animals as food sources through hunting. Thousands of years later, following the period of French colonization in the 1700s, the Osage and Missouri tribes continued to be dominant throughout the midwest. However, they began moving westward in the 1820s and after. Meanwhile, the forced migration of the Cherokee from the southeastern U.S. along the "Trail of Tears" between 1830 and 1850 brought additional native tribes through Missouri.

It is currently estimated that nearly thirty-five thousand Native Americans live in the greater St. Louis region. The Gateway Arch in downtown St. Louis includes an exhibit within its Museum of Westward Expansion that highlights the various Native American groups who lived in the area over the past centuries and millennia. The exhibit features a series of Indian Peace Medals on display, and the museum discusses the period of westward expansion by European settlers who continued to push the U.S. frontier further to the west. Today, St. Louis continues to be a gathering place for Native tribes from throughout the country. It also remains the site of local powwows, meetings, protests, celebrations, dances, and other activities.

Collins, Cameron. "The Big Mound of St. Louis", Distilled History. June 25th, 2012. Accessed April 18th, 2023. https://www.distilledhistory.com/bigmound/.

Jones, Devry Becker. "How Do We Understand the Past? History Underfoot: 1901", Hmdb. April 24th, 2019. Accessed March 13th, 2023. https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=133302.

"Our Native American HiSTORY: St. Louis Mounds", Our St. Louis History: The Great, The Bad, & What We Need to Learn From. https://www.ourstlouishistory.com/single-post/2019/04/03/our-native-american-history-st-louis-mounds. Accessed March 13th, 2023.

Pauketat, Timothy R.. Cahokia: Ancient America's Great City on the Mississippi. New York City, New York. Viking, 2009.

"The First St. Louisans", Explore St. Louis. Accessed April 18th, 2023. https://explorestlouis.com/discover/multicultural-heritage/the-first-st-louisans/.