Ozarks (Lead Belt)
Park Hills is a four-town merger in the Lead Belt
Park Hills was formed from Flat River, Elvins, Esther, and Rivermines, which makes the city name a clue to St. Francois County's mining-town geography.
Park Hills is not just a modern city name. The city says it was formed through a four-way merger of Flat River, Elvins, Esther, and Rivermines after a Missouri legislative action in 1994.
That is useful local color because it explains why older maps, family stories, school names, and mine references may use names that do not look like today’s municipal map.
For St. Francois County, Park Hills carries the Lead Belt’s town-merger geography in plain sight.
It also explains why one city can carry several neighborhood identities at once.
References
Where this fits: this note belongs to St. Francois County. See every local note for the county on its page.