ST. LOUIS (KMOX) -St. Louis is known as "Mound City" and now the last remaining mound within city limits is the subject of an historic land transfer agreement.
Sugarloaf Mound--the oldest human-made structure in the City of St. Louis--is being returned to the Osage Nation
"It's actually the last remaining mound within city limits," said Lee Broughton with Counterpublic, an art and civic impact organization. "Thousands or years or so, there used to be up to a hundred mounds in the city limits. Now this is the last one."
James McAnally, who is also with Counterpublic, says the Osage Nation purchased the summit of the mound but there were still two properties on it.
"We were invited by the Osage Nation, we went through their full tribal protocol to work at that site, both for our exhibition which took place in 2023 as well this larger effort to return the mound," said McAnally.
McAnally says it's been a three-year effort of Counterpublic working with a homeowner, Joan Mecklenberg, who's lived on the mound for 80 years. Mecklenberg eventually agreed to transfer the land to the Osage.
"This is a really historic step in which (the homeowner) has agreed to transfer her home, leaving only one remaining home to be returned so that the mound can be celebrated for this historic and sacred site that it is," said McAnally.
Sugarloaf Mound is located near I-55 and Broadway.
St. Louis Board of Aldermen plans to pass a resolution in January recognizing the Osage Nation's sovereignty.