By state · MO

National Parks in Missouri.

By Nicholas Major · Last updated

Missouri's NPS flagship is Gateway Arch National Park (St. Louis), the country's smallest National Park by acreage but one of its most iconic landmarks, with a tram ride to the top of the 630-foot arch and the Museum at the Gateway Arch in the underground complex. Other Missouri units include Wilson's Creek National Battlefield (the first major Civil War engagement west of the Mississippi), the Ozark National Scenic Riverways (the country's first national park unit established to protect a wild river system), Harry S Truman National Historic Site (Independence), Ulysses S. Grant National Historic Site (St. Louis), George Washington Carver National Monument (Diamond), and segments of multiple national trails. St. Louis Lambert (STL) and Kansas City (MCI) anchor different parts of the network. Gateway Arch operates year-round; Ozark Riverways is a paddle-and-camp destination best May through October.

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NPS source records in Missouri.

Missouri has 14 records in our combined NPS metadata and visitor-statistics registry: 7 National Historic Trails · 2 National Historic Sites · 1 National Monument · 1 National Park · 1 National Scenic Riverways · 1 National Historical Park · 1 National Battlefield. This is a source-record count, not the Park Service's official system-unit census. Combined 5-year-average annual visits: 3,703,142 (multi-state units count their full visits in every state they touch, see methodology). The most-visited record is Gateway Arch National Park at about 1.99M annual visits.

Every National Park Service site in Missouri, mapped. Each glowing marker is one site, placed at its real coordinates and colored by type. Select a marker for its yearly visits and a link, or use the filters to show or hide a group. 9 of 14 units are mapped here; long-distance trails and units centered in another state are in the table below.
National Park Service sites in Missouri, mapped Interactive map of Missouri showing the location of 9 National Park Service sites, colored by type: national parks, monuments and memorials, historic sites, recreation areas and seashores, rivers, trails and parkways, and other sites. It includes the National Park Gateway Arch National Park. Each site is also listed with its yearly visits in the table below the map. 2

Marker positions are each unit's official NPS coordinates. State outline: U.S. Census cartographic boundary (public domain). Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

UnitDesignation5-yr avg visitsBusiest month
Gateway Arch National Park National ParkJEFF 1,991,754 July
Ozark National Scenic Riverways National Scenic RiverwaysOZAR 1,282,966 July
Wilson's Creek National Battlefield National BattlefieldWICR 319,858 August
Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site National Historic SiteULSG 35,088 July
George Washington Carver National Monument National MonumentGWCA 32,598 March
Harry S Truman National Historic Site National Historic SiteHSTR 20,669 July
Ste. Geneviève National Historical Park National Historical ParkSTGE 20,209 August
Butterfield Overland National Historic Trail National Historic TrailBUOV — —
California National Historic Trail National Historic TrailCALI — —
Lewis & Clark National Historic Trail National Historic TrailLECL — —
Oregon National Historic Trail National Historic TrailOREG — —
Pony Express National Historic Trail National Historic TrailPOEX — —
Santa Fe National Historic Trail National Historic TrailSAFE — —
Trail Of Tears National Historic Trail National Historic TrailTRTE — —

Methodology

Rows come from our combined NPS metadata and Visitor Use Statistics registry, not the Park Service's official census of 433 managed system units. Per-record visit counts come from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; the "5-year average visits" column is the mean of 2021-2025 Recreation Visits. Multi-state records are listed under every state they touch, and their full visit total appears in each state. Official National Park counts use the central 63-park classification rather than the source designation label alone. Independent site, not affiliated with the National Park Service.

Adjacent reading

Independence

Independent site. Not affiliated with or endorsed by the National Park Service. Data comes from the official NPS Visitor Use Statistics Data Package, 2025; editorial analysis is ours. The NPS Arrowhead and other NPS marks are not used.

Last updated · 2026-08-28