Fenton Mounds, 2001

On the subject of burial mounds, it ought be noted that the hamlet of Fenton itself was graced with a set of mounds. Conversely, the mounds were not graced by the hamlet of Fenton. For a thousand years, mounds containing the remains of those who once walked the Earth were sacred ground.

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2001-10-31/news/grave-losses/

In 2001, the Fenton Mounds were demolished. For a photograph, click here:

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/photoGallery/index/111303/1

Mounds in Forest Park, 1903

From The Cahokia and Surrounding Mounds by David Bushnell (1904) is this stunning set of photographs of the Native American mounds originally located in Forest Park. The mound shown above, 3.5 feet high and 55 feet in diameter and noted as Mound F on the map below, was one of several demolished during the preparations for the World's Fair. Evidence of human remains was found in several (but not all of the mounds). Given the lack of vegetation, it seems likely that slumping occurred to a number of the mounds (as most were under 5 feet high).

Bushnell writes that the photographs were taken at the ridge of the bluff in the park, near a bend in the River Des Peres. According to a map of the area from 1897 and 1903, that bend became the western corner of the waterway formed as part of Post-Dispatch Lake (the pool of water at the bottom of Art Hill). Bushnell stated that a set of small, low-lying mounds dotted the landscape near the river, while a set of taller mounds stood atop Art Hill. See map below for Bushnell's sketch of the locations of the mounds:

Here is a photograph of the low-lying mounds (unidentified as to which one it was). Any remnants of these mounds appear to be long gone.

The Big Mound, 1869

From Switzler's Illustrated History of Missouri 1541-1877 (1879) comes this sketch of the largest Native American mound built in St. Louis near the time of its demolition in 1869. The Big Mound, as it was known, was near the intersection of Broadway and Mound Street in Old North St. Louis. It stood at least 30 feet high, was 150 feet in length, and had three terraced approaches facing the river for religious ceremonies. At one point in the 1820s, a small resort building was constructed at the top of the mound. Artifacts were found during its demolition.

Its only rival in size was the mound demolished to make way for Col. John O'Fallon's mansion in the 1850s. In 1875, ten years after O'Fallon's death, his mansion burned; it was demolished completely in 1893. The site is now O'Fallon Park.