Entry No. 49 — the St. Louis file — filed under: art
City Museum
A former shoe factory reincarnated as a surreal, hand-built playground for grown-ups and kids alike: ten stories of caves, tunnels, a rooftop school bus dangling over the edge, two salvaged airplanes, and slides welded from reclaimed industrial parts by artist Bob Cassilly and his crew.
The story
In 1993, St. Louis sculptor Bob Cassilly and his wife Gail bought a 600,000-square-foot abandoned shoe warehouse—the former International Shoe Company factory—and began assembling a ten-story urban maze without blueprints. Cassilly and his team of artisans, known as the Cassilly Crew, treated the city's industrial scrap like building blocks. They spent four years welding architectural ironwork, hauling salvaged bridge beams, and encasing structural pillars in thick layers of shotcrete before opening the doors in October 1997.
The result is less of a conventional museum and more of a massive, structural fever dream made of municipal salvage. The ground floor and subterranean level feature artificial caves sculpted from 20 tons of rebar and concrete, seamlessly winding past gargoyles saved from demolished St. Louis mansions. Outside, the courtyard holds MonstroCity: two intact Sabreliner 40 aircraft and a 1940s fire truck suspended inside a tangled canopy of slink-like wrought-iron wire tunnels floating 50 feet off the asphalt.
What sets the place apart isn't just its scale, but its total rejection of hand-holding. There are no arrows, no directional signs, and no printed maps. A spiral chute originally built to drop shoe boxes ten stories down through the building now serves as a high-speed slide that drops you directly into the basement. Up on the roof, a full-sized school bus hangs suspended over the building's edge, counterbalanced by industrial steel I-beams.
What it's like
Expect to leave with bruised knees, dusty clothes, and zero sense of direction. The vibe inside feels like an industrial playground engineered without safety warnings: toddlers sprint through wire tunnels, adults squeeze through dark crevices, and music bounces off concrete floors. Wear thick pants, sturdy closed-toe shoes, and consider packing knee pads if you plan on following any crawlspaces to their end. Go late on a Friday or Saturday evening when the crowds shift older and the indoor bars open up, or hit it early on a rainy weekday morning if you want to climb the outdoor aircraft without waiting in a line of children.
The move: Wear closed-toe shoes and clothes you can crawl in, then spend the whole night threading the man-made caves, racing the multi-story slides, and climbing the outdoor MonstroCity tangle of planes and wire tunnels — it rewards fearless adults more than the kids.
📍 Before you go Wear closed-toe shoes and long sleeves — it is physical, with tight crawlspaces. Late-night weekend hours can be 18+.
- 📍 Downtown / Washington Ave
- 💸 $$
- ⚡ Up for anything
- 🌗 Indoors
Where: 750 N 16th St, St. Louis, MO 63103
Hours: Added 2026-07-21 — confirm current hours before you go.
Pair it with
- The Crack Fox & Odditeas Cafe — A short four-block walk east brings you to this late-night goth and punk dive bar, ideal for grabbing a drink once you finish crawling through the museum's steel tunnels.
- Thaxton Speakeasy — Trade the rust dust and rebar for a password-protected 1920s Art Deco basement lounge located just half a mile down Washington Avenue.
- Giant Vess Soda Bottle — Continue the tour of St. Louis's oversized industrial artifacts by driving less than a mile north to see this 34-foot historic steel soda bottle.
Good to know
Do adults really need knee pads?
Yes. The cave network and wire crawling tunnels are lined with rough concrete, rebar, and steel. If you plan to explore the lower crawlways as an adult, your knees will take a beating without padding.
Is there a map of the layout?
No. The museum deliberately does not provide maps or signage. The design forces you to get lost and navigate by landmark, like the giant floor whale or the rooftop Ferris wheel.
Is the rooftop open year-round?
No. Access to the roof—which includes the Big Eli Ferris wheel, the dangling school bus, and slide structures—is weather-dependent and usually requires a separate add-on ticket.
Is this strictly a kids' attraction?
Not at all. While daytime brings heavy family crowds, the physical scale of the slides and tunnels is designed for adults, and late-night weekend hours cater specifically to an older audience with on-site bars.
Plan a visit & invite your people →
Further reading: Official site · Wikipedia · Atlas Obscura · Reddit
last checked: 2026-07-21