Ste. Genevieve gets national park designation, but much remains to do before it will open By Leah Thorsen St. Louis Post-Dispatch May 8, 2018 STE. GENEVIEVE, MO. • The iconic National Park Service arrowhead emblem that directs visitors to famous national landmarks, such as Yellowstone and Yosemite, will eventually point tourists to a small Mississippi River town where French houses date to the 1700s. The long-sought formation of the Ste. Genevieve National Historical Park was approved by Congress and signed into law March 23. It authorizes the National Park Service to acquire about 13 acres, including historic buildings, for inclusion in the park about an hour south of St. Louis. Getting the national park designation was the culmination of 20 years of effort that local officials hope will bring more tourists to the town of nearly 4,500. Momentum grew in 2005 when Congress ordered the Department of Interior to study whether part of the city and county meet federal criteria to be included in the national park system. The study began in 2010. It was supposed to take three years, but it wasn’t until 2015 that the National Park Service released its findings, which declared dozens of properties as historically
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