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Location: Florissant and Harris
Ordinance Date: 1908
Size: 126.63 Acres
Purchased Donation - Deed
Purchased for: $259,065.33
View O'Fallon Park Picnic Grounds
Picnic reservations: Call: 289-5330
Ballfield reservations: Call: 289-5389
Plant A Memorial Tree In O'Fallon Park
History of O'Fallon Park
In the compromise that added the establishment of parks in north and south St. Louis as conditions for the approval of the Forest Park plan, O'Fallon Park was the north side entrant.
It had been a part of a vast 600-acre land holding of Colonel John O'Fallon, who came to St. Louis after being severely wounded at the Battle of Tippecanoe in the War of 1812. He was an assistant to his uncle William Clark, the "Clark" of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, then indian agent for St. Louis.
John O'Fallon made money rapidly buying and selling supplies to the army. Giving it away liberally, he became noted as a great philanthropist.
He retained the 160-acre area of the present O'Fallon Park as his estate and subdivided and sold the rest of his tract, which reached down to the Mississippi River. Atop the highest hill in his estate, O'Fallon built a huge four-story mansion of about 50 rooms with a tall columned front portico. He named his estate Athlone, after the Irish birthplace of his father. It is said that many Indian artifacts were unearthed during the excavation for the mansion.
Ten years after O'Fallon's death in 1865, his heirs sold the estate to the city. In 1875, the mansion was damaged by fire and remained in a ruinous condition until 1893, when it was finally razed.
Until the late 1880s, O'Fallon Park remained in a rather primitive state, but was used principally as driving park and picnic grounds. During the 1890s, a music stand and a park shelter with an
observation tower was constructed and in 1896 the lake was completed.
In 1904, an island was placed in the lake and retaining walls were erected around its perimeter. Boating became popular after the erection of the boathouse in 1908.
Electric lighting came to the park in 1914 and three years later its area was enlarged by the addition of an 8 1/2-acre tract donated by the Catholic Archdiocese. Overall area of O'Fallon Park was reduced to about 127 acres by the acquisition of right-of-way for Interstate Highway 70 in 1954.
 Official Web Site of the City of St. Louis
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