City Museum

The City Museum in downtown St. Louis is a wildly inventive attraction built inside a former shoe warehouse, part sculpture, part playground, part funhouse. It was created by the artist Bob Cassilly and a team of collaborators and opened in 1997, assembled largely from salvaged industrial and architectural materials. Visitors climb through a labyrinth of tunnels, caves, slides, and repurposed objects, including old aircraft, a school bus perched on the roof, and enormous outdoor jungle-gym structures made of rebar and reclaimed metal. There is little signage and few rules, encouraging exploration and discovery at every turn. Highlights include a ten-story slide, a rooftop Ferris wheel, and the MonstroCity outdoor climbing complex. The museum blurs the line between art installation and immersive play space, appealing to adults as much as children. Much of the material was rescued from demolished St. Louis buildings, giving it a distinctly local, recycled character. It has won international attention for its originality. The scale and unpredictability of the space reward hours of wandering. It stands as one of the most unusual attractions in the country.