In a pavilion in Chesterfield’s Faust Park, a hundred-year-old menagerie still goes around. The St. Louis Carousel — built in the 1920s by the Dentzel Company, with hand-carved horses and chariots — spent its youth at the Forest Park Highlands amusement park, survived that park’s famous 1963 fire, and was rescued, restored and re-homed by St. Louis County in Faust Park in 1987.
Today it spins for a new century of riders in a climate-controlled building, its original paint schemes recovered by careful restoration and its band-organ spirit intact. A ride costs next to nothing, grandparents get misty, and the same park holds the Butterfly House and historic village buildings for a full retro family day.
Some technologies never need upgrading. This is one.
The St. Louis Carousel is at Faust Park, 15025 Faust Park Drive in Chesterfield. Hours at stlouiscountymo.gov.
