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Commercial usage was rather meager in the Oakland area during the nineteenth century. By 1875, the only such uses were two small hotels on Manchester Road across from the Cheltenham station of the Pacific Railroad. Probably the first large scale commercial activity was the Forest Park Highlands, which began as a beer garden and amusement park in 1896. Its location on Oakland Avenue, east of the south side of the World's Fair grounds gave the Highlands a tremendous boost in business in 1904.

For many years after the fair, the amusement park's bandstand was a huge Japanese gate structure from the World's Fair's Pike. Known as the "Big Place on the Hill", the Highlands was the City's largest amusement park and the scene of countless school picnics and pleasure jaunts. It boasted of two roller coasters, the "Mountain Ride" and the "Racer Dip," a merry-go-round, all sorts of rides, shooting galleries, swimming pool, dance ball room, a fun house, and a large picnic gourds. In its later years, the Forest Park Highlands suffered from a decline in business and met a tragic end when it was destroyed by fire in 1963.

Built around 1920 by the Dentzel Company of Philadelphia, the carousel is composed of more than 60 exquisitely hand-carved horses and deer. The carousel was a fixture at the St. Louis Highlands amusement park on Oakland Avenue where Forest Park Community College now stands. The amusement park burned down in 1963, but the carousel was rescued and later purchased by Howard C. Ohlendorf who donated it to St. Louis County. It was operated in Sylvan Springs County Park until 1979 but after many years of being exposed to the elements it had seen better days. The Carousel now sits in Faust Park, Chesterfield, Missouri.

CREDITS: County of St. Louis