WENTZVILLE, Mo. — A new park near Wentzville will be named after a Civil War veteran and one of the property’s early owners as the St. Charles County Council gave approval at Monday night’s meeting.

The 199-acre park is located at 2949 West Meyer Road and will be called Oglesby Park after Benjamin Oglesby who farmed the land in the late 1800s.

Oglesby was born a slave in 1825 in Bedford, Vir., and was brought to Missouri in 1837 at 12 years old by his owner Marshall Bird, according to a press release. He worked on a farm near present day Interstate 70 and Highway W in the Foristell/Wentzville area.

When he was 39 in 1864, Oglesby escaped captivity and enlisted in the Union Army in St. Charles. Leaving his wife and children behind in captivity, he went through basic training in St. Louis and fought for freedom.

Oglesby was assigned to the 56th United States Colored Infantry and was honorably discharged in 1865, the press release states. 

In 1871, he purchased 146 acres of land in Foristell and financed the property through a $2,000 Deed of Trust and paid it off six years later. 

Oglesby farmed the land at 2949 West Meyer Drive for 30 years and died in 1901, a year after his wife died. He is buried in Smith Chapel Cemetery, which is a mile from his farm.

The Oglesby children owned the land through the mid-1900s, the press release states.

The park will open this summer.