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Draft Of The
Carondelet Park
Park Features
Horseshoe Lake Boathouse Lake 3 Softball Fields 1 Lighted Baseball Field 3 Soccer Fields Field House Lyle Mansion Maintenance 5 Lighted Tennis Courts Shelter House 4 Picnic Shelters 3 Barbecue grills Music Stand Boathouse Casting Dock 2 Playgrounds 10 Horseshoe Pits Path: 1.65 miles 5 Comfort Stations 40 foot flag pole Bronze plaque honoring the city's past, present and future soccer players was donated by Joseph A. McLaughlin in memory of McLaughlin's brother, Peter J. McLaughlin and Henry Menendex, soccer players who used the park.
Carondelet
Carondelet Community
Boulevard
Location: South Grand Boulevard and Loughborough Avenue
Size: 179.71 Acres
Ordinance: 43499
Ordinance Date: 1875
Purchased for: $143,971.10
View Carondelet Park Picnic Grounds
Plant A Memorial Tree In Carondelet Park
Hold A Wedding & Reception In Carondelet Park
Wedding/Reception reservations: Call 314 289-5344
Picnic reservations: Call 314 289-5330
Ballfield reservations: Call 314 289-5389
Carondelet Park ranks as the third largest park in the City of St. Louis with a total of 179.71 rolling green acres. The park is dotted with picturesque lakes, rolling hills and inspiring scenery.
Carondelet Park has many interesting features, among these are inviting Horseshoe and Boathouse Lakes, both drained and renovated in 2000. The four picnic grounds are used extensively and are heavily used almost every day of the picnic season. The playground, lighted baseball
diamond, softball diamonds, and tennis courts are in constant use. The bandstand was built in 1898 and its boathouse was completed in 1908.
Acquisition of the tract for a city park was the result of the wishes of residents of the far south side during the campaign for the creation of Forest Park in the early 1870s. They felt that Forest Park was too distant for their convenience and demanded a park in their end of the city. Provisions for parks on the north and south sides were added to the Forest Park plan and the combined Park Proposition won the approval of the voters.
Carondelet Park was purchased by the city in 1875. The park dedication took place on July 4, 1876, the hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
City of Carondelet
Only three years after the founding of St. Louis in 1764, Clement DeLore came up the Mississippi River with his family, looking for a home site. He found precisely what he wanted near the foot of what now is Elwood Street; a site close to the river but above flood stages. There he built the first house and was soon joined by other Frenchmen
from Cahokia, Canada and Kaskaskia.
The village that grew around the DeLore homesite was called the Lore's village by the inhabitants. De Lore at first called it "Louisborough," but in 1794, he named it "Carondelet" in honor of Baron de Carondelet, Governor General of the Spanish-Louisiana Province.
Settlers were assigned long strips of land for cultivation in what became known as Carondelet Common Fields.
The 180-acre tract in the Carondelet Commons that is now Carondelet Park was part of a Spanish land grant to Amos Custis Lyle, a native of Virginia, who was a pioneer settler in Carondelet.
By 1842, it had been inherited by his grandson, Alexander Lacey Lyle, who erected the present eight-room frame Lyle House, which is now the park's link with the early history of the area.
In 1940-42, the historic Lyle House was extensively restored and modernized. It is now considered an outstanding example of nineteenth century residential architecture. In recent years, the house has been used as a Senior Citizen's Center. Later the property came into the possession of Roswell M. Field, a cousin of the famous poet, Eugene Field.
The long strips of land called "The Carondelet Common Fields," ran from what is now Virginia Avenue to Morganford Road and from Carondelet to Meramec Street. DeLore seems to have had the beginning of a town plan in his mind, but it was not recorded and few of the settlers had deeds to their property.
When this area became United States Territory by the Louisiana Purchase in 1804, Carondelet Village had about 50 houses and about 250 inhabitants.
Carondelet was incorporated as a town in 1832. It was known as "Vide Pouche," which means "empty pocket." In 1851, it was incorporated as a city and had a population of 1,265.
Carondelet merged with the City of St. Louis in 1870. The early inhabitants were French but later many people came from Alsace-Lorraine, Luxembourg and Rhineland.
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