Things to Do in Kirkwood, MO: A Famous Rock Wall, Winter Trout and a $6 Skate
Revised November 5, 2026
What are some fun things to do in Kirkwood, Missouri?
Start at the Meramec Highlands Quarry at Dee Koestering Park, 1703 Marshall Road, the type locality of the Meramecian Series of rock. Then fish Walker Lake in Kirkwood Park, which the Missouri Department of Conservation stocks with winter trout, hike Emmenegger Nature Park, skate at the Kirkwood Ice Arena and watch trains at the 1893 depot on West Argonne Drive.
Keep reading ↓Put your palm flat on the quarry wall at the end of the trail off Marshall Road. The limestone is cool even in summer, gray and layered like a stack of old ledger pages, and it doesn’t look like much. Most people snap a photo, swat a mosquito and walk back to the car.
Here is what they walked past. A published geology paper on the Mississippi River Valley names Meramec Highlands, in St. Louis County, as the type locality of the Meramecian Series. A type locality is the reference spot, the place a named body of rock is measured against. That wall sits in a Kirkwood city park, the Meramec Highlands Quarry at Dee Koestering Park, 1703 Marshall Road, and the city lists an interpretive display, a paved bluff trail and more trails as its amenities. Tell that to the friend who says Kirkwood is a train station with some shops around it.
The rest of Kirkwood works the same way. The famous part is the downtown, and it’s good. The better part runs down toward the Meramec: a bluff park built on old Lemp family land, a lake in the city’s oldest park where the state stocks rainbow trout for winter, a river park with a boat ramp and a radio-controlled car track, and a cemetery off Old Big Bend Road that is easy to drive right past. If you’re working your way through the small towns outside St. Louis, this is the Kirkwood worth a whole day.
What are some fun things to do in Kirkwood, Missouri?
Start at the Meramec Highlands Quarry at Dee Koestering Park, 1703 Marshall Road, the type locality of the Meramecian Series of rock. Then fish Walker Lake in Kirkwood Park, which the Missouri Department of Conservation stocks with winter trout, hike Emmenegger Nature Park, skate at the Kirkwood Ice Arena and watch trains at the 1893 depot on West Argonne Drive.
The quarry: a famous wall nobody brags about
Go early, while the hollow is still in shade. The quiet down there is the first thing you notice: no traffic noise, just your own shoes on the path and birds you can’t see. Then you notice the scale. Somebody cut this hillside open, and the rock is still showing its layers to anyone who bothers to look.
The geology is the reason to come. Geologists use the Meramecian name for a whole series of rock in the Mississippi River Valley, and the research names Meramec Highlands as its type locality. You don’t need to know any of that to enjoy the walk. It’s just more fun when you do. Read the interpretive display, look closely at the layers, then leave every stone where you found it. It’s a city park, not a rock shop.
Wear shoes with real grip on the soles. Bring water in summer. And if you have kids along, make it a game: who can find the thinnest layer, the darkest stripe, the spot where the wall looks like it was sliced.
What can you see at Emmenegger Nature Park?
Woods and a climb that gets your heart going. Emmenegger Nature Park sits at 11991 Stoneywood Drive, and the city lists accessible parking, barbecue pits, a pavilion, restrooms and trails there. The Missouri Department of Conservation says the park contains 93 acres, and that the land was originally part of a large estate owned by members of the Lemp family, the brewing family that owned a large St. Louis brewery around the turn of the 20th century.
So you are hiking through what was once a rich family’s country retreat. Hold onto that on the way up. The trail gets rooty and rocky as it climbs, the creek noise drops away behind you, and in late fall, when the leaves are down, you can see through the trees toward the river valley. Come back down the same way slowly. Wet leaves on a slope are slicker than they look.
Dogs can come, on a leash. MDC’s area rules say pets are permitted but must be on a leash or confined at all times. If you’ve already walked everything in our guide to easy family-friendly hiking trails around St. Louis, this is a good next step up.
Where can you catch trout in Kirkwood?
Walker Lake, in Kirkwood Park at 111 S. Geyer Road. Walker Lake in Kirkwood is on the Missouri Department of Conservation’s list of St. Louis-area lakes stocked with winter trout. Here is the scene you actually get: a gray morning, breath fogging, a few anglers spaced along the bank, and a rainbow trout flashing silver against brown water.
Know the rules before you rig up. MDC says that between November 1 and January 31, some winter trout lakes are catch-and-release only and some are catch-and-keep, and that after February 1, trout may be harvested from all lakes. Check the rules posted at the lake. All trout anglers between ages 16 and 64 need a valid Missouri fishing permit, and anyone who wants to keep trout also needs a trout permit, regardless of age.
Save one number in your phone before you go: MDC’s St. Louis fish stocking hotline, 636-300-9651. Its recorded message tells you when and where fish were stocked, how many and what species. Call it the night before so you aren’t casting at an empty lake.
Kirkwood Park itself is worth the trip even if you never wet a line. The city says it’s the oldest park in Kirkwood, established in 1941 with two 20-acre tracts, and it has grown to 92 acres. It holds the Kirkwood Community Center, the Recreation Station Ice Arena, an aquatic center, the Lions’ Amphitheater and Walker Lake, where, in the city’s words, you can fish to your heart’s content. For the rest of the metro’s stocked lakes, our guide to good fishing spots in St. Louis has the bigger picture.
Want the river instead of a pond? Greentree Park, 2150 Marshall Road, has a boat ramp, fishing, hiking trails, athletic fields, restrooms and an RC car track, according to the city. Stand at the ramp and you’ll hear the Meramec before you see it moving. Across the river, Fenton has more of the river to explore.
Still have daylight after the river? Keep going to Valley Park
Downtown Kirkwood: trains, a Saturday market and a quiet cemetery
The depot is the heart of it. Amtrak says the Kirkwood station at 110 West Argonne Drive was built in 1893 by the Missouri Pacific Railroad and that volunteers staff it, greet passengers and hand out tourist information. Missouri River Runner trains stop there. Stand on the platform when a train comes through and you feel the boards hum under your feet.
On Saturday mornings in season, the Kirkwood Farmers’ Market fills with neighbors, folding tables and whatever is in season, and there’s live music from 10 a.m. to noon. The City of Kirkwood founded the market in 1976 as a bicentennial project, and Downtown Kirkwood counts more than 300 local businesses around it, so lunch is never hard to find.
Then go somewhere quieter. Historic Quinette Cemetery, 12188 Old Big Bend Road, is a city-listed historic site with an interpretive display. It’s small, it’s still, and the interpretive display tells its story better than we can here. Read it slowly, walk softly between the stones, keep your voice down and leave everything exactly as you found it. If you bring kids, tell them before you get out of the car what kind of place this is. It’s a burial ground first and a history stop second.
What can you do in Kirkwood on a cold or rainy day?
Skate. The Kirkwood Ice Arena sits in Kirkwood Park, and the cold hits your face the second you push through the doors. The city lists public skating admission at $6 for Kirkwood residents and $7 for non-residents, with skate rental at $3, and you must live in Kirkwood or Glendale, with ID, to get the resident rate. Check the city’s ice arena calendar for session times before you go.
There’s something about a public skate in a suburban rink: the scrape of blades, a kid gripping the wall, a teenager showing off backward crossovers, the warm drink in the car afterward. It’s cheap, it’s indoors, and nobody is good at it the first time.
If the rain lets up, stroll Argonne and duck into whichever shop or cafe looks warmest. Webster Groves is close by, and our guide to things to do in Webster Groves covers the next stop. For addresses and local listings, our Kirkwood city guide keeps the details in one place.
A full Kirkwood day, in order
Here is how we would string it together. Quarry first, while the morning is cool and the stone holds the shade. Emmenegger next, while your legs are fresh for the climb. Pack a sandwich and eat it at the pavilion, or drive into downtown for lunch on Argonne. In the afternoon, pick your mood: a rod and a folding chair at Walker Lake in trout season, the boat ramp at Greentree when the river is calm, or the rink when the weather turns.
End at the depot around dusk, when the platform lights come on and the street gets loud with dinner crowds. It’s a day with mud on your shoes, cold hands and a full stomach, and almost none of it costs more than a skate rental. Check the weather and the river before you go, because a wet week turns trails slick and the bottomland soft.
Planning a Kirkwood Saturday around the quarry, the lake or the rink? See where to eat in Kirkwood on St Louis Near Me Directory for lunch close to the trails and dinner after the skate.
If you run a Kirkwood cafe, shop or bait-and-tackle counter, the people coming off these trails are cold, hungry and deciding where to stop next. Be the name they find and get more customers from every Saturday crowd: list your business with us.
Next time somebody calls Kirkwood a train station with some shops around it, you’ll be the one who knows which wall the geologists care about, which lake gets trout in winter and what number to call before you cast. Pick one and go this weekend.
Frequently asked questions
Does Walker Lake have fish in it?
Yes. The City of Kirkwood says Walker Lake, in Kirkwood Park, is a place you can fish to your heart’s content, and the Missouri Department of Conservation includes Walker Lake in Kirkwood on its list of St. Louis-area lakes stocked for winter trout. Call MDC’s stocking hotline, 636-300-9651, for the latest stocking information.
Is there a fee to enter Kirkwood Ice Rink?
Yes. The city lists public skating at the Kirkwood Ice Arena at $6 for Kirkwood residents and $7 for non-residents. You must live in Kirkwood or Glendale, and show ID, to count as a resident.
How much is one session of ice skating?
At the Kirkwood Ice Arena, a public skating session costs $6 for residents or $7 for non-residents, and skate rental adds $3. Bring your own skates and you skip the rental.
What is Kirkwood, Missouri famous for?
Mostly its trains: Amtrak’s Missouri River Runner stops at the Kirkwood depot, built in 1893 by the Missouri Pacific Railroad. The less famous answer is better. A published geology paper names Meramec Highlands, now a Kirkwood city park, as the type locality of the Meramecian Series of rock.
What are some parks in Kirkwood, MO?
Kirkwood Park, at 111 S. Geyer Road, is the big one, with Walker Lake, the ice arena and the Lions’ Amphitheater. Emmenegger Nature Park has the trails, Greentree Park has the Meramec boat ramp, the Meramec Highlands Quarry at Dee Koestering Park has the rock walls, and Historic Quinette Cemetery is a quiet history stop.
Can you bring a dog to Emmenegger Nature Park?
Yes, on a leash. MDC’s rules for the area say pets are permitted but must be on a leash or confined at all times. Bring water and a towel for muddy paws, keep your dog off the steepest rocky stretches, and pack out what you bring in so the trailhead stays pleasant for the next family.
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