The secret, bloody history of one of the St. Louis region’s most popular parks
MARYLAND HEIGHTS (KMOV) - A popular St. Louis-area attraction has a darker side to its history that many may not be aware of.
Creve Coeur Lake Park is the most popular park in St. Louis County, attracting more than one million visitors every year. People use the park’s water for fishing, rafting and sailing, its trails are enjoyed by people for exercise, and its pavilions are used for picnics and other events. But there is a side to the park that isn’t so floral and lively.
The lake itself was formed as an oxbow lake that was cut off from the Missouri River. For a time, there was a smaller lake nearby named Little (Upper) Creve Coeur Lake, which eventually dried up. In the 1880s the lake area became a popular resort and family destination for St. Louisans. A trolley line that started in University City at Delmar was built out to the lake, where it looped around and went back (this is the origin of the name “Delmar Loop”). Several railroad lines also went out to the lake. The destination became the home of the St. Louis County Fair.
However, its popularity as a getaway from St. Louis faded as the 1920s approached, particularly as cars became more accessible to the public. By the time of Prohibition, the lake became home to saloons, dance halls and speakeasies; it turned into a hideout for gangsters.
“Families were getting their own vehicles, so they weren’t so reliant on the railroad or the streetcar to take them. They could choose where they wanted to go,” said St. Louis County Parks Historian Guinn Hinman.
One notorious resort located on Upper Creve Coeur Lake was connected to five killings and one attempted murder in which a mob figure tried to have a witness to one of his crimes killed. The incidents happened between 1925 and 1938.
The spot connected to the killings was the Duffy-Quinn, later the Duffy-Zimmer resort.
In October 1925 three gangsters came into the bar at the resort and owner James Quinn got into a gunfight with them, killing all three. Quinn claimed that Vincent Goedde, Don Jean Hoffman and James Tully tried to rob the bar, so he shot them.
“The three men that were killed were well-known gangsters; they had 70 arrests between the three of them, James Quinn was quoted as saying at the time that it was ‘pretty good shooting,’” said Hinman.
About 10 months later, co-owner James Duffy was working the bar with his cousin, Malcolm McDonald. When Duffy tried to kick two drunk men out, he and McDonald were shot. The suspects, which included Miles Levi Mainord, who was a pastor’s son, escaped on a row boat. They were later caught after a porter tipped off police.
In 1938 Lewis Lee Baker was left for dead on the resort grounds. Baker witnessed the bombing of a business in St. Louis City, and because of this, notorious gangster Isadore “Izzy” Londe tried to have him killed. Baker was in southeast Missouri at the time, sent there by police for his own safety. He was lured back to the St. Louis area, shot multiple times, including in the head, and was left on the grounds of the Duffy-Zimmer resort. Baker somehow survived, walked several miles for help and later testified against Londe, who was eventually sent to prison.
The resort eventually closed and part of it became known as the Creve Coeur Hotel. The land the resort was on was eventually bought by George Seeger, the owner of the dealership that eventually became Seeger Toyota. The resort burned down in 1966.
Creve Coeur Lake became the first St. Louis County park in 1945. Additional surrounding land was added to the park in 1969.
Few signs of the outlaw period at Creve Coeur Lake exist today. There is a trail above the lake called “Bootleggers Run” and a sign that says “Speakeasies and Saloons.” But there is almost nothing from that infamous time period.
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