When the Broad Street Park was laid out, the idea was to plan it after the mall in Washington, D.C., which ran from the White House to the Capitol. The Henry Newberry home was the extreme eastern end of the park strip, and the Edward Duncan home on the western end. The original trees in the parkway were elms brought from Connecticut on covered wagons by the early settlers.
I’m 72, and until I went off to college, I lived my entire young life at the end of Ruth Avenue next to Water Works Park. I built forts in the high woods next to our house, went sledding down the hill from the railroad tracks, and played with toy boats in Kelsey Creek. I was fortunate to have a perfect childhood in a setting of endless exploration and creative imagination. I never had any idea I was so close to the real history of the area.
Hi Kim: Do you remember the area across from Waterworks that was undeveloped and filled with hills and trails? We used to ride our bikes there in the 60’s. we called it the sandpit. I remember playing at Waterworks too around the train tracks – there was a little cave there right near the stream where it went under the tracks. And some sort of chimneys or ovens in the grassy area going from Munroe Falls Ave to the tracks, between St Eugene’s parking lot and the pool fence. Fun memories!