[1] The park contains part of the site of Fort Bellefontaine, a fortified post of the United States Army first raised in 1805.

The post was visited by Lewis and Clark Expedition upon their return to St. Louis in September 1806.

[1][2] The fort's location was built up in the 1930s as a parkland development project of the Works Progress Administration.

[2] A three-mile-long nature trail provides access to the creek ravine, WPA masonry, and the site of the vanished fort and trading post.

[3][2] Part of the parkland has been set aside as a reproduction tallgrass prairie, sown with big bluestem grasses and allied species.