Where do you begin a story when you are talking about a 160-year-old Gothic church that has been turned into a skatepark? Back then it shone across Old North St. Louis like nothing ever seen before. A cathedral built by the hands of people both local and from 4000 miles away. The biggest west of the Mississippi River.
In the present day, sadly, not many things still shine in the North City, but all of that is changing. The religious types cut their loses in the ’90s and left the church to fend for itself. It lay there starving for love; all it received was vandalism and theft. That was until hope turned up at the door!
A local man to the area felt that he could make a difference to the building and took the challenge on with both hands. He had a vision for a creative space in a part of the city with many blank, decaying canvases. He had some. help from close friends and those who knew he needed help. Luckily he had a soft spot for skateboarders and he could see that his passion was equaled by a group of locals who needed a new home safe from the elements. A park was born and a bond was made.
“A home for Sinners, created by Saints.”
In 2014, St. Louis did not know that their skate scene was about to be put back on the map. I thadn’t ever really been off of it, thanks to a bridge on Kings Highway. Times had changed, and the bridge was being torn down, but the passion to build hadn’t ever burned more brightly. St. Liborius became the new home of skateboarding in St. Louis – a place like no other, a place like 160 years before, no one had ever seen before. The project to the untrained eye appears almost complete already, but to those in the know, it’s a very different story.
Thousands of hours of blood, sweat, and tears have been donated to this spectacular church. It isn’t about building the best skatepark in the world, it’s about saving one of the most unique churches in the world. Roofs that haven’t had any love for over 100 years need TLC, floors need support like never before. This project is about coming together and showing no matter what you give to a skateboarder they will rise to the challenge and have fun doing it.
From the outside, we may not be the prettiest group, but we’re making one of the Mose awe inspiring projects in the world happen. Not for money, not for status, not even for the glory, but for the love of this city, for the love of the art of skateboarding, and most of all for the love of this building.
Over the last few years, as well as working on the building, of course we’re working on the park. It is an ever changing creation with each session bringing something new to life. Some things like the mini ramp and our jump box sections are there to stay, but there is nothing more fun than blending new objects together and seeing what we can create. Not many other parks in the world have the chance to work with alters, piano rollers, and pews.
We now operate under the name of Sk8 Liborius, and we are in the process of creating a non-profit organization by the name of Liborius Urban Art Space (L.U.A.S.). The sis so that not only can people use this space for skating, but they can use it to further improve their passions of art and creativity. They can come to a place where they can feel the energy and passion that we have poured back into this building. We now offer the opportunity for so many different people to use this space as a creative outlet, from performance art groups to crusty punk bands.We run skate sessions weekly, but we are a private park. We ask that anyone who wants to come along and skate or help out contact us through social media.
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I’d like to use this opportunity to thank anyone who has donated time, money, beers, supplies, publicity or even just their support for this project. We wouldn’t still be going if it wasn’t for the love of the locals and those who have travelled thousands of miles just to stop by and check the place out and help us. We love you all, and we hope to meet many new faces in the years to come!
