Minnie Wood Memorial Square playground. Courtesy of Moore Design Group and Chippewa-Broadway Business Association.

In south St. Louis there is a small park with a playground located on S. Broadway and Meramec. I have been by the park a few times in my life and never really knew the name of it or for whom it was named…until recently. After preliminary research involving how the park was named, I was intrigued by the information about this woman. Her name was Minnie Wood and the park is called Minnie Wood Memorial Square.

Born in Germany as Minnie Sommers, she and her parents immigrated to Columbia, Illinois, in 1851. This is a town known for its German heritage. Minnie Sommers worked as a servant when she was young. In 1876, she married an Englishman in Springfield named Henry Wood.

Both Henry and Minnie Wood lived the typical “rags to riches” story in America. Not only did Henry flourish as a self-made millionaire, accumulating $4 million, but he and his wife gave back to society through their charitable deeds. They established a boardinghouse for milk-wagon drivers, and Minnie would rise at 3:00 a.m. each morning to prepare breakfast for them. The couple lived frugally as well. Henry became the president of the Union Dairy Company at Jefferson and Washington, the president of Jefferson Bank, and the president of the Humane Society of Missouri. His reports for the Humane Society reflected the ideal of progressivism in the early decades of the 20th century. He wrote, “children’s lives and morals spared animals of all kings given defense and protection against vicious men.” An interesting and noble thought from a man who started his career as a milk-wagon driver.

What seemed to be a positive and happy marriage had turned sour, however. When Henry and Minnie separated, he agreed to give her $2,400 a year “if she would not annoy him.” After his death in 1917, Minnie fought hard to obtain her husband’s estate. The Missouri Supreme Court awarded her $1 million in 1921 even though the bulk of the estate was left to some hospitals and a nursing home.

The fountain and pavilion at Minnie Wood Memorial Square. Courtesy of Moore Design Group and Chippewa-Broadway Business Association.

Minnie Wood died on April 7, 1924, at the age of 77. She had donated some land to the City of St. Louis, mainly for a playground. In 1926, Minnie Wood Memorial Square was established and continues to this day.

—Leo Thomasson, Missouri History Museum Volunteer