Sequiota Park is a tucked-away oasis in Springfield, but it didn’t used to be. In its early years, it wasn’t in Springfield at all.
No, the park didn’t move – but the world around one of the city’s most popular parks has become unrecognizable from when it began at a time when it was miles from Springfield’s city limits.
It links generations of folks who have long been drawn to its beauty and amenities, which today include play equipment and its place on the Galloway Creek Greenway. The 29-acre park is a natural retreat in an urban area – a contrast that perhaps makes its tranquility even more of a contrast.
“It’s been a popular destination for more than 125 years,” says Jenny Fillmer Edwards, public information administrator for the Springfield-Greene County Park Board. “Generations and generations of kids and families have grown up playing there, climbing the big rock, exploring nature.”
Fisher’s Cave’s days as a destination
A vintage photo shows Sequiota Park in days gone by. (Photo provided by the Springfield-Greene County Park Board)
Long before the trails and playground equipment were put in place, Native Americans traversed the land that today draws visitors from Springfield and beyond for its beauty and recreation opportunities. While it’s not verified, legend also says that it was Native American tradition that led to the park’s name, which is said to mean “many springs.”
“The Park Board would love to know more about the Native Americans who utilized the area,” says Edwards. “We have read about it being used as a seasonal hunting ground and a stop along a longer north-south trail, and there is a long list of Native American nations associated with the area.”
Sequiota Park’s modern-day documented history goes back to the late 1800s when newspaper articles talked of its wonders. Back then, it was described as “Fisher’s Cave,” named for one of the property’s early developers.
“Fisher’s Cave has been purchased by Mr. P.F. Vaughn, and will be kept in good showing order for visitors by its new owner,” noted the Springfield Daily Herald in 1883. “Heretofore its principal has been used for the storage of potatoes. A depot on the railroad within a few hundred yards of the entrance to the cave makes it accessible for curiosity hunters.”
In its early years as a tourist destination, the train was an option for reaching the cave, which is about seven miles away from downtown Springfield by today’s roads. It is adjacent to the community of Galloway, which was a separate town from Springfield until 1969.
Galloway’s “modern” origins date to the 1840s when a man named Jacob Painter acquired 160 acres of land that he sold to locals. Ultimately, community life centered around a quarry, which opened by the late 1800s.
By then, the cave was a popular tourist destination.
Springfield locals taking a Sequiota Cave Boat Tour in 2025. Photo courtesy of Visit Springfield, Missouri
An example was in 1886 when “several ladies left on the morning train for Fisher’s Cave to explore its beauties,” noted the Springfield Leader between updates about physicians reporting very little local sickness and that Mr. Brownlow, a local grocer, was having his Jefferson Avenue store painted.
A much more expansive description was printed in 1891, when the Springfield Daily Democrat documented an excursion train that took couples from Springfield to the cave:
"The Chadwick train yesterday morning had a special coach filled with a jolly crowd of picnickers from the North Side bound for the Fisher Cave to spend the day. The front compartment of the car contained the ladies with one solitary husband of healthy aspect who, in profound meekness of spirit, occupied a secluded corner seat and listened in reverent silence to the animated chatter of feminine voices around him. The ladies were all married and happy, judging from their lively conversation and bright faces. A Democrat representative, always alert for such inviting news and quick to recognize 'a thing of beauty as a joy forever,' boarded the car at the Phelps Avenue depot and hastily surveyed the party.
"After paying that regard to the fair excursionists prompted by a native impulse of gallantry, the newspaper representative turned to the lonely gentleman in the obscure corner of the car. He was of goodly build, and would have balanced the standard scales of the stock yards at about 225 pounds.
"'Have you the honor of chaperoning this handsome party?' asked the reporter of the meek gentleman in holiday attire. Before the man could reply to this query, a chorus of musical voices answered: 'Oh no; we admitted him in here for ballast only. He was elected to that seat because of his avoirdupois, just as sand is taken into a balloon by aerial voyagers. We have a chaperone of our own sex.'
"Going into the smoking car, the reporter found a number of husbands engaged in various masculine pastimes. Judge Sheffield and three other men had improvised a card table of one of the cushioned seats and were in the midst of an absorbing game of 'sell out.' The judge handled the cards deftly as though he had learned the art of shuffling the deck in a hay loft when the church bells were calling the pious boys to Sunday school. The north side justice looked at least twenty years younger than when he was trying the celebrated 'Old Cook' case last summer and endeavoring to find the rightful owner of 'Top-knot,' and her brood of spring chickens.
"The party had a good supply of dinner baskets, and leaving 'dull care' behind, intended to make the day one of genuine pleasure and recreation. They returned in the afternoon as happy as school children who had been off on a vacation excursion."
Train trips were tied to the Chadwick Flyer, a run from Springfield to Ozark and then onward to the small Christian County town of Chadwick. Today, that former rail line is the heart of the Chadwick Flyer Trail, currently under construction, that when complete will link Springfield and Ozark.
From Fisher’s Cave to Sequiota Park
A booklet promoted the Frisco Railway’s connections with Sequiota Park in the past. (Photo provided by the Springfield-Greene County Park Board)
Tourists weren’t the only crop at Fisher’s Cave. Another was mushrooms.
“Many wagon loads of rich earth and fertilizing material have been conveyed into the cave up the subterranean river in the boat, and here in the darkness where the temperature never changes grow the mushroom for the table of the city people who have money to gratify their expensive appetites,” noted a Springfield paper in 1901.
“Mr. Smith is now selling several hundred pounds of his cave grown mushrooms to St. Louis each week. The edible fungus brings a good price, about 30 cents a pound, and the Fisher cave is likely to become more valuable in the production of this delicacy than it has been as a curiosity feature of the Galloway pleasure resort.”
The “people” crowds were perhaps disappointed in 1909, when its owner closed Fisher’s Cave to the public. While there were a few private events in the coming years – including a baptism in 1911 – it was primarily used as a place to grow those mushrooms, which were joined by crops like rhubarb and asparagus; sweet potatoes were also stored in the cave for farmers.
But by 1913, tourists were back when the cave changed hands. Half an hour was all it took to convince its new owner that the cave should be theirs, and newspaper articles carried a promise that it would reopen to the public.
“New owners will make place one of most beautiful of pleasure resorts,” noted a newspaper headline. “Amphitheater may be employed for dancing parties – temperature always 60 degrees.”
That shift also led to a new name: Sequiota Park. Its origin is unknown, says Edwards, who notes that it appears on some 20th-century maps and documents hyphenated as “Se-qui-o-ta.”
The following year, newspaper advertisements were inviting the public to visit the park, which was accessible by car – a service you could pay for, since few people had their own. Even the Frisco Railway operated a transportation service to the park: “A motor car pulling an open flat car trailer which has been equipped with seating accommodations.”
“By this move on the part of the Frisco, one of the prettiest resorts in the Ozarks is brought within the reach of all in Springfield. As the park is but six miles distant from the city near Galloway on the Chadwick branch, the run will be made in good time, for the train will be scheduled at 20 miles an hour.”
Its slow speed was in contrast with its robust response.
Sequiota Park. Photo courtesy of Springfield-Greene County Park Board.
“The single trailer to the motor car special, which now operates from the mill street passenger station to Sequiota Park on Saturday and Sundays, (has) proven insufficient to handle the number of passengers who desire to make the trip to the resort,” noted the Republican in 1914. “An additional trailer similar to the first has been added to the equipment of the special. Both of the cars which trail the motor car are open flat cars with awning to shelter passengers, the seating accommodations being excellent.”
There were barbecues and club gatherings and general interest in promoting the area as a tourist designation – like in 1915, when park owner H.E. Peterson pushed the idea along with businessmen of improving the road by “macadamizing” more than six miles connecting Springfield and the Christian County line.
Whether or not they arrived on an improved road is unclear, but that same year, a contingent from the Missouri State Fish and Game Commission appeared in search of a location for a new fish hatchery.
At the time, it wasn’t clear whether that site would be selected for the hatchery. (Another local option was Pearcy’s Cave, which today is known as Fantastic Caverns.) But by 1919, even the governor of Missouri is said to have wanted it at Sequiota – if Springfield would acquire the property first.
“The governor stated that if the matter is energetically taken up by the city officials and commercial bodies of Springfield so that Sequiota will be purchased and presented to the state, the fish and game commission will stock the spring at the park with smallmouth bass, trout, rainbow trout and jack salmon and will maintain the park without any expense to the city.
“‘If that is done,’ said the governor, ‘one of the greatest fish hatcheries in the country will be built up here in the Ozarks.’”
A Springfield newspaper advertisement from 1914 promoted Fisher’s Cave and Sequiota Park as a desirable destination. (Image from the Springfield Republican)
And the next year, it was done: The local chamber of commerce paid $23,000 – the equivalent of more than $361,000 in 2025’s dollars – to acquire the property for the state.
“Before the state completes its work on the park, Sequiota will be one of the beauty spots in the state and will contain the second hatchery in the state, the other being located at Forest Park, St. Louis,” noted a Springfield newspaper article in May 1920.
By that fall, plans for a dedication ceremony were underway: “It is not likely that any healthy member of the Chamber of Commerce will miss the big celebration, and he is expected to take his family with him,” noted the Republican in September 1920 of a party the governor was to attend at the park.
“If he isn’t the proud possessor of a family, he probably will borrow a part of some other fellow’s family.”
Approximately 6,000 people attended the dedication in October 1920. Missouri Gov. Frederick D. Gardner addressed the crowd with a speech that was printed in the newspaper. Some of his remarks included:
“In the establishment in this, the Gem City of the Ozarks, of what is destined to be a great state fish hatchery, the state has undertaken to become partners with the people of this section in unlocking the doors of the Ozarks to all the people of our own country as well as to the immigrants and with our Good Roads system completed to make it the playground of the Mississippi Valley.
“We want people to come here and view the wonders of the Ozarks, the beauty and grandeur of which are little known but have been truly described as one of the most beautiful of any on this continent. We want them to come and drink from the great Fountain of Youth, which God has given to the Ozarks.”
Sequiota Park retained its fish hatchery for nearly 30 years, becoming a state park by the end of the 1920s.
“Sequiota State Park is the smallest of Missouri’s system, but, as every Springfieldian knows, it is one of the prettiest spots in the Ozarks,” touted a newspaper article distributed by Missouri’s State Game and Fish Department in 1927.
In 1959, Sequiota’s hatchery was closed upon the completion of Shepherd of the Hills Fish Hatchery near Branson. The state offered the park to Springfield for just $2,000 and the city council quickly took the deal. A decade later, the park and nearby Galloway were part of Springfield’s southeastern city limits.
Sequiota Park today
In the more than 65 years since Sequiota Park became part of Springfield’s park system, some things have changed. The long-loved Fisher’s Cave has been closed to the public (as have many other publicly owned caves across the state) to protect the Grey Bat population.
However, climbing the big rock near the entrance remains “a rite of passage for kids,” Edwards says.
That reality doesn’t keep the park from holding space as one of the most popular in Springfield. Draws include the Galloway Creek Greenway, one of the busiest recreation trails in the county; the park’s playground and walking path, the latter of which gives a sense that one is far from town; and the Galloway Creek area downstream from the dam, where visitors can literally get their feet wet in nature.
“For its popularity, Sequiota Park is actually pretty small, just under 29 acres, and more than half of that is largely undeveloped, including west of Lacuna Street and downstream from the dam, tracts of land officially added to the park in 2018,” Edwards says.
“The area that’s most familiar to folks, including the lake, cave, playgrounds and parking area, is about 13 acres. For the size and popularity, Sequiota still evokes a sense of discovery and wonder, even if you’ve been there 100 times. The cave, the bluff, the water and the history help make Sequiota a special place.”
Resources
“Approximately 6,000 attend fish hatchery dedication at Sequiota,” Springfield Republican, Oct. 2, 1920
“Baptism at Fisher’s Cave is impressive,” Springfield Republican, Nov. 24, 1911
“Board to try 19-acre site,” Springfield Leader and Press, July 17, 1959
“Chamber of commerce pays $23,000 for Sequiota Park to establish fish hatchery,” Springfield Republican, April 20, 1920
“Commission asked to inspect local sites,” Springfield Daily Leader, April 21, 1915
“Local laconics,” Springfield Leader, June 2, 1886
“Fish, fun and politics will feature gathering at Sequiota October 2,” Springfield Republican, Sept. 5, 1920
“Fisher's Cave,” Larry Wood, Missouri and Ozarks History, May 24, 2013
“Fisher’s Cave is being improved at cost of $10,000, Springfield Republican, Nels E. Anderson, Sept. 7, 1913
“Mushrooms in bear beds,” Springfield Leader Democrat, May 1, 1901
No headline, Springfield Republican, July 25, 1914
“Sale of a cave,” Springfield Daily Herald, March 22, 1883
“Scenic drive to Christian County line is assured,” Springfield Republican, Feb. 25, 1915
“Sequiota Park a longtime Ozarks favorite,” Jan Peterson, Springfield News-Leader, March 18, 2021
“Sequiota Park to be made a show place of Ozarks,” Springfield Leader, May 7, 1920
“Springfield can have fish hatchery if site is presented to state,” Springfield Leader, Oct. 3, 1919
“Train service to Sequiota Park,” Springfield Republican, July 5, 1914
“Wonders of nature exemplified in Missouri’s State Park System,” Springfield Leader, Aug. 21, 1927
More Resources
