If you have ever driven down Riverview Drive near Scranton Avenue, you have likely seen it towering concrete structures rising from what looks like an industrial graveyard.
For years, people passed it without realizing they were looking at what was meant to become one of the most ambitious art parks in the country.
The property was once part of the former Lafarge Cement Plant in North St. Louis. After operations ceased, the land sat quiet until it was purchased by Bob Cassilly, the creative mind behind the City Museum. Cassilly envisioned Cementland as a massive outdoor sculpture park carved out of the abandoned factory. Concrete towers. Industrial mazes. A landscape transformed into art.
But the project would never be finished.In September 2011, Cassilly was found deceased on the Cementland property. Authorities ruled his death accidental, stating that he had been operating heavy equipment at the time.
