Pershing State Park is a public recreation area covering more than 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) off U.S. Route 36, three miles west of Laclede in Linn County, Missouri.

[6] Since the early 1930s a group from Laclede had petitioned the Federal government to create a national military memorial to Pershing in Linn county.

The land however remained largely unused and undeveloped for several years save for two buildings constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps just prior to World War II.

This lack of overdevelopment would later prove a plus as the meandering Locust Creek—with its wet prairie, marshes, and bottomland forests—reflects the natural wetland state of some northern Missouri lands before agricultural development and the channelization of large creeks and rivers.

[6] The Locust Creek Covered Bridge State Historic Site is across U.S. Route 36 from the main portion of the park.