Landmarks’ Board Adopts Resolution In Support Of Preserving Sugar Loaf Mound
November 19, 2008
The Board of Directors of Landmarks Association of St. Louis approved the following resolution on November 13, 2008:
RESOLUTION
To Support the Acquisition and Preservation of
Sugarloaf Mound, an historic Native-American site
within the city limits of St. Louis, Missouri
WHEREAS, St. Louis, Missouri was once known as the Mound City, due to a large number of Native American mounds and sites located along the western banks of the Mississippi within the present-day city limits, and
WHEREAS, Sugar Loaf is the last of these once abundant mounds and is therefore the last standing remnant of St. Louis' prehistoric built environment, and
WHEREAS, Sugar Loaf Mound represents a component of a major prehistoric occupation in the St. Louis area on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River (the St. Louis mound complex), a site that may have been comparable in importance to the nearby Cahokia complex (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) but, due to the almost complete destruction of the St. Louis mounds, the site remains in relative obscurity and
WHEREAS, the Sugar Loaf Mound site provides the potential for future comparative studies between the St. Louis mounds and the Cahokia/East St. Louis complexes, and
WHEREAS, the expected data present within the Sugar Loaf site have the potential to significantly add to the knowledge of prehistory in the St. Louis area, to the understanding of the Woodland and Mississippian periods, indeed to the archaeology of the entire eastern and southeastern United States, and
WHEREAS, the mound is the oldest structure built by human hands in the City of St. Louis and has been used as a Landmark for citizens of the city for centuries, marking the southwestern corner of the original town survey of 1809 and delineating the boundaries of the common fields of St. Louis and Carondelet, and
WHEREAS, the mound itself is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and City Landmark Status is currently being pursued.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Directors of Landmarks Association supports any and all efforts to acquire and preserve Sugar Loaf mound and make it accessible to future generations.