Heath Norton has watched the corner of Big Bend and Oxford change from across the street. He co-owns St. Louis Boxing Club, and he told First Alert 4 in August that his first reaction to the construction was excitement, adding that "there's going to be people across the street." A Great Rivers Greenway spokesperson called the site "a previous site of a McDonald's" that is becoming "a hub for community."
The park is called Oxford Bend Park, and it's almost finished. On October 2, the City of Webster Groves said it was "nearing the finish line." The city also said an official opening date would come later. Great Rivers Greenway's project page, updated October 15, still lists completion as late fall 2026. The timing matters because of what this park was designed to do. It's supposed to be the hinge between Webster Groves' existing greenway and a new trail leg through Maplewood, and that leg is still under construction. For now, the park will most likely open as a rest stop at the end of the trail.
A Parking Lot Rebuilt to Soak Up Rain
The Webster-Kirkwood Times reported the project's total cost at roughly $1,296,900. Webster Groves is paying $150,000 of that from Prop W, and Great Rivers Greenway is covering the rest. For every dollar the city is putting in, the regional greenway agency is putting in more than seven.
The paper quoted Deputy City Manager Scott Davis, who said the park will have "some features not found in any of our other parks." He also said the city is "removing quite of bit of impervious surface" from the old parking lot and replacing it with landscaping and bio-retention. The city's October update lists what's going in:
- A nature exploration and play area
- A pavilion
- Rain gardens and more than 30 new trees
- An expanded path with skateable features
- A bicycle repair station and a water fountain
- Benches, pet waste and recycling receptacles
- Solar-powered lighting
The park's design came out of public input. Great Rivers Greenway says more than 1,000 people helped shape the plans. In a Summer 2023 survey, people asked for a greenway rest stop with shade trees and native habitat. The name came from 130 suggestions submitted in Summer 2024. It points to the two cross streets so trail users can tell where they are.
Oxford Bend Park was planned as a waypoint on a trail, which means what it connects to matters as much as what's inside it.
Heading West, the Trail Is Already There
Today the Deer Creek Greenway is a 3.57-mile paved trail. It starts at Deer Creek Shopping Center on Big Bend and runs through Deer Creek Park and Lorraine Davis Park to Brentwood Park. The new park sits right where that trail ends. Here's the route heading west, in order:
- Deer Creek Park. Many people call it "Rocket Park" because of its space-themed playground and tall rocket slide. The Webster Groves side has baseball and soccer fields, plus restrooms, picnic areas and a gazebo.
- Lorraine Davis Park. It has boardwalks, native plantings, and a pavilion with a drinking fountain that overlooks the spot where Deer Creek and Shady Creek meet.
- Barnickel Park. It has a half-court basketball court.
- The Marshall Avenue trailhead, just east of Brentwood Boulevard. It has greenway parking, a covered pavilion, a drinking fountain, a bike fix-it station and a pump track with rolling hills and banked turns.
- Brentwood Park. It has a 2.7-acre destination playground with water features. There's also an underpass beneath Manchester Road that connects to community trails, and a link toward Laclede Station/Hanley and Manchester near the Maplewood MetroLink station.
Oxford Bend Park's skateable path and bike repair station echo the pump track and fix-it station at Marshall Avenue. Once it opens, both ends of the Webster Groves stretch will have a stop built for bikes and wheels. The east end hasn't had anything like that until now.
Heading East, the Gap Is Still City Streets
Great Rivers Greenway's project page says the Maplewood extension will run from the current Deer Creek Greenway endpoint at Big Bend to the River des Peres Greenway in the City of St. Louis. Along the way it will connect Brentwood, Webster Groves, Maplewood and St. Louis, plus the Maplewood business district and the Shrewsbury-Lansdowne MetroLink station. In 2025, 40 South News laid out the street route: east on Oxford, north on Sussex, east on Greenwood, then onto Canterbury to the River des Peres trail. The City of Maplewood describes the new trail as a 10-foot-wide path for walking and biking.
Great Rivers Greenway is building it in two pieces. The first runs from the current endpoint just west of Big Bend and Oxford to Sussex and Greenwood. The second runs from Greenwood and Canterbury to the River des Peres Greenway at Canterbury and McCausland. The agency's overview describes the meeting point as Ellendale and Canterbury, so expect to see both intersections named.
The stretch between those two pieces is part of Maplewood's Greenwood Boulevard project. That's a full concrete rebuild of Greenwood from Sussex to Canterbury, with new curbs, drainage and utility upgrades, and the city says it will run through the end of 2026, weather permitting. Great Rivers Greenway says utility work is underway right next to the new park. AT&T and Charter are taking down telephone poles on the south side of Oxford between Big Bend and Sussex. Ameren and Charter are moving power poles to the west side of Sussex between Oxford and Cambridge.
So the first block a trail user would take east of Oxford Bend Park is still a work zone. Neither agency has published an opening date for the extension. Great Rivers Greenway's own page says that while closures and detours will happen in phases, the affected roads won't all close at once.
What the Connection Unlocks
Once the Maplewood leg is done, the payoff is long. The River des Peres Greenway currently runs 9.90 miles from Francis R. Slay Park to Carondelet and Lemay Parks. Its north end is near Ellendale and Canterbury, and it connects directly to the Shrewsbury-Lansdowne MetroLink station at Lansdowne Avenue and River Des Peres Boulevard. From there, a bridge east of Highway 55 connects to the Gravois Greenway, also known as Grant's Trail, which adds another 11.47 paved miles.
| Segment | Length | Status as of late October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Deer Creek Greenway, Big Bend to Brentwood Park | 3.57 miles | Open |
| Oxford Bend Park at Big Bend and Oxford | Small park, trail rest stop | Nearing completion, opening date to be announced |
| Deer Creek extension through Maplewood | 10-foot trail; total length not yet published | Under construction, no opening date |
| River des Peres Greenway | 9.90 miles | Open |
| Gravois Greenway / Grant's Trail | 11.47 miles | Open |
Today the Webster Groves part of that chain is a dead-end trail 3.57 miles long, so a full round trip from Brentwood Park to Big Bend and back covers about twice that distance. With the Maplewood link finished, it would join more than 21 miles of open regional trail on the River des Peres and Grant's Trail. Oxford Bend Park sits at the point where that changes.
Using the Corner This Winter
Until the Maplewood link opens, Oxford Bend Park works best as a stop at the end of a ride. If you need parking, the Marshall Avenue trailhead near Brentwood Boulevard is the established lot. From there it's an easy ride east past Lorraine Davis Park and Rocket Park to the new pavilion, fountain and repair station, then back. Families heading to Deer Creek Park's playground will now have a second play area at the trail's east end, with a nature exploration focus.
If you're driving through the corner, expect utility trucks on Oxford and Sussex. Great Rivers Greenway says the road gets narrower when crews are working and asks drivers to use other routes when trucks are there. The City of Maplewood offers email and text alerts for the Greenwood work, and Great Rivers Greenway has an update sign-up on the Oxford Bend Park project page. Questions about the park go to Great Rivers Greenway at 314-436-7009 or [email protected].
The opening date will come from the City of Webster Groves. As of its October 2 update, the city's word was "stay tuned." If you're following how the Old Webster and Old Orchard districts are changing, our recent look at two different Septembers on Gore and Big Bend covers the other end of Big Bend.
The team at Becky M O'Neill is keeping an eye on Oxford Bend Park and the Greenwood work, along with other projects around Webster Groves. If you live near Big Bend and Oxford and want to know how a new park and trail link nearby could affect your home's value, get your home value and we'll go through it with you.
