Some Photos of Carondelet Park

CARONDELET PARK IS the third largest park in Saint Louis, Missouri, just under 180 acres in size, and is located in the southern part of the city in the Carondelet, Holly Hills, and Boulevard Heights neighborhoods.



Boathouse Lake. The building dates from 1918.

Located in what was formerly the common fields of the French colonial village of Carondelet, the park was dedicated on the Centenary of the American Declaration of Independence, on July 4^th, 1876. Carondelet, once an independent city, was annexed by the City of Saint Louis in 1870, and contains some of the oldest architecture in the City.

Horseshoe Lake: a stone bridge is visible in the distance.

The park is named after François Louis Hector, Baron de Carondelet, who was Spanish governor of Louisiana, an area which included this region. He also served as governor of El Salvador and was a Knight of Malta. He also conspired to thwart the western expansion of the United States until the ratification of the Treaty of San Lorenzo set the western border of the Republic.



The Lyle Mansion dates from 1842 and was built by the grandson of an early settler, Amos Custis Lyle of Virginia, on land granted by the King of Spain. The Alexander Lyle family lived here until the outbreak of the Civil War, when they were chased out due to Southern sympathies. This later became a Senior Citizens' Center: a relative of mine played Pinochle here.

The distinctive geological features found in the park are a large number of sink holes, formed by water slowly dissolving the underlying rock, and draining into unseen caves below.

Click here for a map of the park.