CREVE COEUR — Renaming the park for Dr. H. Phillip Venable was the first step. Now city officials plan to honor Venable’s legacy by telling his story.
On Monday, the City Council voted to establish the Venable Park Task Force, which is charged with memorializing the history of the park and identifying potential resources to do so.
In the mid-1950s, African Americans entered into contracts to build homes on Country View Drive, in what was then called Spoede Meadows subdivision. White residents responded by insisting they sell; Venable, a respected ophthalmologist at Homer G. Phillips Hospital and instructor at St. Louis University’s medical school, refused to be bought out. But Venable and his wife, Katie, lost when the city sued to take their property through eminent domain.
Their land became part of Beirne Park, which was named in 1961 for a former Creve Coeur mayor who led the effort to drive the Venables out.
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The City Council, in a resolution, said “it is clear from the records of the city and the courts that people leading the effort to create the park were motivated by bigotry and racial animus and sought to prevent the Venables from building their home and living in the city due to their race.”
The deadline for nominations to the task force, which will include up to nine members, is Feb. 17, with the City Council set to vote on members on Feb. 24.
A ceremony to rededicate the park, which is located at 10630 Country View Drive, is tentatively set for the afternoon of Sunday, May 17.