The Jefferson County Parks and Recreation Department is installing a gate at the entrance to Rockford Park in House Springs, which has been the site of numerous drownings and overcrowding incidents.
On June 3, Parks Director Tim Pigg said his department has encountered several delays in installing the gate at the park’s single-entry point and said work should be completed within the next few weeks.
The $54,415 gate was approved by the Jefferson County Council in August 2024 to increase safety at the park along the Big River. Once in place, Pigg said the gate will automatically close near sundown and reopen at 5 a.m.
Pigg said first responders will always have access to the park, regardless of the time of day.
“This is to help us and the EMS people,” Pigg said. “People were playing around (Rockford Park) after dark, and if they got in the river, the exponent of risk triples at night. Putting this in just eliminates unnecessary risk. If we can eliminate that by putting up a gate or reduce it significantly by having a gate, then that’s what we’re going to do.”
In October, the council approved a temporary swimming and wading ban at the park. The council voted to extend the ban in April for another year; the ban is set to expire April 30, 2027.
Officials have determined the river access at the park, 4320 Hwy. W, is dangerous for swimming and wading. While the water may look calm on the surface, officials have said powerful and strong currents under the surface can suck unsuspecting swimmers underwater.
The county-owned park has been the site of at least seven drownings in the last decade. The most recent incident occurred June 28, 2025, when a 44-year-old man from Overland drowned on the Big River.
In addition to the unsafe conditions of the park’s river access, first responders have previously said overcrowding in the parking area can prevent emergency service vehicles from accessing the boat ramp quickly for water rescues.
On the weekends in recent years, large crowds of parkgoers flock to the river to cool off, often parking along the narrow access road leading in and out of the park, and blocking fire lanes.
Grant Bissell, Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokesman, said deputies are working overtime at the park from noon to 8 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays to enforce the swimming ban.
“We’ll evaluate those hours as the summer goes on, as needed,” Bissell said. “To this point, deputies working in the park have not had any issues, and we’re not aware of any after-hours issues.”
Pigg said the gate project delays were caused by a misunderstanding of who owned the road leading to Rockford Park, supply chain holdups and the gate was initially improperly installed.
After decades of presuming it owned Rockford Beach Road, the county took the necessary steps to take over the road from the Missouri Department of Transportation in August. The 700-foot road extends from Hwy. W to the Big River. Old maps indicate Rockford Beach Road was once part of Hwy. W, Pigg said.
“We did not actually own that roadway; it was still in the name of the state of Missouri,” Pigg said. “We worked through that and got all that roadway in our name, and then, of course, they had some issues with product from the contractor, but that happens. They’ll be working on that in the next couple of weeks. The mechanisms were installed on the wrong side, so they’ll be fixing that.”
The gate is being installed by Kendall LLC of St. Louis. The contract includes installing a system for punch-key code access for law enforcement and daily automatic open and close functions, according to council documents.
The system will be solar and battery-operated. Additionally, a spike strip will be placed at the exit side of the gate, allowing people to leave the park but not reenter once the park is closed for the day.
“At this point, we’re looking to have it open at 5 a.m. every morning, regardless of the time of the season, because fishermen like to go in the morning, and that’s to accommodate them,” Pigg said of the automatically opening gate. “Throughout the year, the time of closing will change depending on the month. For instance, taking June into account, the gate will close at 8 p.m. When you get into, say, January and February, it will probably close closer to 5 p.m.”
Pigg said the Parks Department is looking to install similar gates at other county parks. He said he’s “eyeballing” the Northwest Jefferson County Sports Complex in House Springs as a likely candidate, along with Kimmswick Park and Sunridge Park in Hillsboro.
“The main driver is that we just don’t have the staffing or the finances to have somebody go through and lock these parks every day,” Pigg said.