Cannon Park (Charleston, South Carolina) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Cannon Park
The columns are all that remain of the old Thomson Auditorium following a fire.
Location	Southwest corner of Calhoun St. and Rutledge Ave.
Area	2.7 acres (1.1 ha)
Created	1985 (1985)
Operated by	City of Charleston Government

Cannon Park is a public park in Charleston, South Carolina. It covers about 2.7 acres. The park is surrounded by Calhoun Street, Bennett Street, Rutledge Avenue, and Ashley Avenue. It's a great place for people to relax and enjoy the outdoors.

Park History: From Pond to Park

Cannon Park was photographed around 1896. You can see the Gov. Thomas Bennett House in the background.

These plans from the Olmsted firm were never fully built. But they did inspire the park's design much later.

Some of the land for Cannon Park was given to Charleston in the early 1800s. Before that, it was a sawmill pond. The city got all the land needed for the park by 1893. Work on creating a public park started in 1894.

However, by 1897, people weren't using the park much. It became a place where goats and cows grazed! The grass was often left long and uncut.

The Thomson Auditorium: A Grand Hall

The Thomson Auditorium burned down in 1981. Only its four tall columns are left today.

In the late 1890s, Charleston's City Council decided to build a large meeting hall. They spent $30,000 on this project. Architect Frank Pierce Milburn designed the building. It was a huge hall that could seat 7,000 people! The hall was finished on April 27, 1899.

After a big event, the hall wasn't used very often. It was too big for most gatherings. Over the years, the building was used for different things.

• In 1901, it became a theater for three years.
• In 1904, it was a temporary city hospital.
• In 1907, the College of Charleston leased it. They used it to house the Charleston Museum.

The Fire and New Park Design

In October 1981, a fire sadly destroyed the grand hall. Only its four tall columns were left standing. This happened about a year after the museum moved to a new location.

After the fire, the city planned to redesign Cannon Park. They looked at old plans from the 1890s. These plans were made by the Olmsted Brothers, famous landscape designers. Their ideas were never fully built before the hall was constructed.

The new park design kept the four remaining columns as a special feature. They planted palm trees and oak trees around them. There were plans for a water fountain, but that part was never built.

Cannon Park Today

Today, Cannon Park is a popular spot. It has a playground for kids to enjoy. There are also walking paths for people to stroll along. The park does not have a fence around it. It is also a place where people can bring their dogs, and they are allowed to be off-leash.