Transgender Memorial Garden

According to Jaimie Hileman, then board president of the St. Louis Metro Trans Umbrella Group (MTUG), the "garden serves both as a reminder of those whom we've lost and also as a very living and tangible symbol of hope in our city that tomorrow will be better days.

The idea for the Transgender Memorial Garden first occurred to local chef, restaurateur, and drag performer Leon Braxton, Jr. (aka "Dieta Pepsi") who saw a Facebook post by Lewis E. Reed, president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, encouraging citizens to plant trees in neighborhood gathering spaces to create spaces of reflection as part of the second annual "Plant4PeaceSTL" event.

Reed's post encouraged St. Louisans to plants trees in public places to create spaces of reflection, memory, and contemplation.

"I thought the #Plant4Peace project would be a great opportunity to support our St. Louis transgender community and those we have lost with a memorial or reflection park…so I contacted Reed's office about my wild idea just to see if it was even possible.

"[5] Braxton's idea came to the attention of Jarek Steele, co-owner of local independent bookstore Left Bank Books and member of the Metro Trans Umbrella Group.

The triangular site at the corner of Vandeventer and Hunt Avenues was owned by the City of St. Louis and a neighborhood business, which gave permission for the Memorial.

Before planting, the Garden's soil consisted of construction fill from previous condemned buildings on the site, covered by a thin layer of rock, gravel, topsoil, grass, and weeds.

The original plan for the Memorial specified a row of Eastern Redbud (Cercis canadensis) trees running diagonally (southwest to northeast) along Vandeventer Avenue.

Redbuds can be rather plain small, ornamental trees in summer but are highly prized for their butter-yellow fall foliage and spectacular display of magenta flowers in early spring.

Prominent transgender activists, scholars, and celebrities were also in attendance, including Kate Bornstein, Jennifer Finney Boylan, Candis Cayne, and Caitlyn Jenner.

The dedication was followed by a march through The Grove neighborhood led by the Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPOC) organization, and a memorial service at the Metropolitan Community Church of Greater St.

[12][13][14] On the evening of June 12, 2016, the Memorial was the terminus of a march and site of a vigil for victims of the mass shooting that occurred in the early morning hours of that day at Pulse gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

A candlelight vigil and rally occurred with speakers from the local St. Louis LGBTQ community, faith leaders, and politicians, and a performance by the Gateway Men's Chorus.

A vigil was held at the garden in the evening of August 23, 2017, in memory of Kiwi Herring, a transgender woman of color shot to death by police in north St. Louis.