DeSoto Park was John Paul Cooper's gift to the school. In 1923 the school moved from its location on East Ninth Street to the DeSoto Park site on Cave Spring Road. The park gates pictured to the left were situated just down the walkway from the home built by Major William Walker Hemphill in 1834. Today called the Home on the Hill, it is the home of the president of Darlington School and reputed to be the oldest house in Floyd county.
The park provided a large lake for swimming and boating, a casino for the production of
plays and musicals, an occasional horserace, a zoo, areas for picnicking and the house was
used for various gatherings. The bridge across the lake has since been removed but the
promatories can still be seen on either side of the lake. Our flagpole now stands on
one of them. The building called the Casino was actually used as a small gymnasium
until the 1980s when it was torn down and replaced with landscaped plantings at the end of
the lake near the entrance drive.