Mill Creek Park

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Goldfish Pond

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The Lily Pond, before 2016 renovations, Photo copyright Bob Trube

A 15 cent loaf of day old bread was all you needed for a delightful family outing to the Goldfish Pond. You gave each of the kids a slice, taught them to break off small pieces and toss them into the water. Suddenly a school of goldfish appeared. Then everyone, including the parents, threw in more bread and watched the feeding frenzy. Hundreds would gather along the shore, from tiny fish to big old grizzled veterans of many years in the pond.

It was one of the first feature designed by Volney Rogers with W.S.C. Cleveland in the newly acquired park, formed by damming the outlet for a nearby natural spring. Legend has it that the first five goldfish came from a police officer, Martin Moran, who gave them to Volney Rogers to be released into the pond. The pond opened in 1896.

The pond was formally called the Lily Pond, because sections are covered with lily pads. It was, and still is a home to frogs, turtles, ducks and geese. On our last visit, we delighted in observing a turtle sunning itself on a log, as well as the mallard ducks who made their home in the pond.

The pond has required periodic dredging (in 1935 and 1975), and extensive improvements in 2016. They added a boardwalk leading to an observation deck as well as an arrival plaza with drinking fountains, benches and an information kiosk. There is a floating boardwalk and observation deck over the Frog Pond.

Feeding fish or other wildlife is now prohibited in the park. It turns out that our stale bread is not really healthy for wildlife and pollutes the pond. it also defeats the natural instincts of animals.

I wonder if Lindley Vickers knew that when he took generations of school children for nature hike around the pond and along the nearby trails? What I do know is the he helped us love the pond and the animals and plants found around it. I suspect there are ways to accomplish that without feeding the wildlife. What I do hope is that park officials major in delight rather than rules so a new generation learn to love the park.

The Lily Pond is located off of Birch Hill Drive, which connects McCollum Road on the West side, with West Drive in the park. Birch Hill Cabin is located across the road and is available for groups up to 48 to rent. I remember several gatherings there, and a walk around the Gold Fish Pond was a great chance for some fresh air, especially if you were with a date. It was only a quarter mile around, but with benches, it was a good, if not private, place for conversation in a beautiful place.

What do you remember about visiting the Goldfish Pond?

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Lanterman’s Mill and Falls

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By Keith Roberts [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

I suspect if someone were to try to come up with a list of the most scenic views in Mill Creek Metropark, Lanterman’s Mill and Falls would be at the top of the list. During my teen years, I loved exploring the trails that run through Mill Creek Park. Of course I had seen the falls and the mill many times from the Youngstown-Canfield Road bridge on car rides. It wasn’t until I was walking along the trail downstream from the falls and came to a point where the falls and the mill was framed by the Youngstown-Canfield Road bridge that I realized what an incredible view this offers.

Apparently people have thought this view one of the most spectacular over the years. Here is a photograph I found from the early 1900’s:

Historic Lanterman Falls

The picture shows an earlier, and less substantial bridge over the river gorge than the one I grew up with which is still there.

The history of this site goes back to the beginnings of Youngstown. Two of the surveyors working with John Young in 1797, Phineas Hill and Isaac Powers surveyed Mill Creek and came upon the falls and immediately recognized the potential for a mill on the site. Hill agreed to purchase 300 acres around this site with the condition that a saw- and gristmill be built within 18 months, one of the first industries in what would become Youngstown. They operated the mill from 1799 until 1822. In 1823 Eli Baldwin replaced the structure and operated it as a gristmill only until it was washed away in a flood in 1843. According to the Lanterman’s Mill History page at the Mill Creek Metropark website, the millstone is still resting about 500 feet downstream in the creek bed.

German Lanterman built the third mill on this site with it’s current wood frame structure. He operated a gristmill with three sets of grinstones until 1888. For most of this time the mill was highly successful. In 1892, as Volney Rogers was acquiring the land for Mill Creek park, saving it from an industrial future, he acquired a building falling into disrepair and, along with Pioneer Pavilion, initiated repairs and preserved this iconic structure.

Originally, it held a ballroom, bathhouse for the nearby Pool of Shadows which was used for swimming, and a concession stand. Boats were stored on the upper floor in the winter. Later in 1933 the first floor was converted into a nature museum. Later it became the park’s historical museum. Major renovations were made in the early 1980’s, and one of my college professors, Dr. John White organized an archaeological dig and found evidence of an earlier raceway. The work was made possible by the Florence and Ward Beecher Foundation who made a $600,000 grant to the project. Lorin Cameron, an expert gristmill renovator oversaw the project.

As a working mill, Lanterman’s Mill requires continued maintenance, especially the wood of the water wheel and its supporting structures. In 2013 a new support beam for the water wheel was installed. The first Recipes of Youngstown cookbook proceeds were dedicated to water wheel repairs.

The mill is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10 am to 5 pm. Admission for Mahoning County residents is $1.00, for non-residents $2.00, students and seniors $.75 and children under 6 are free. Visiting the mill is a lesson in Youngstown’s industrial history. Walking the paths, the covered bridge, and standing on the observation deck help visitors discover the scenic wonder that has captured the hearts of generations of Youngstown area residents, including mine.

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — “Rocky Ridge”

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Sled Hill in the James L.Wick, Jr. Recreation Area, Courtesy of Mill Creek MetroParks. Used by permission.

“Rocky Ridge” was what we called the James L. Wick, Jr. Recreation Area in Mill Creek Park. The name comes from the rocky escarpment that runs along the southern border of the Recreation Area that descends to Bears Den Road and the Bears Den area below. Development of the Recreation Area began in 1949 and was completed in 1956. I have memories from every season. It was a 15 to 20 minute walk from my house, or a five minute drive, up the hill on Mahoning, a left turn down South Belle Vista past McCollum Road where the road ran through the area (it has now been closed off at the parking lots).

When we were young and it had snowed, we used to haul our sleds up to Rocky Ridge and ride down the hill by the playground area. If you had waxed the runners and the snow was packed, you could make it to the second hill. By the time I was in junior high, in 1968, the ice rink was opened. Many Friday and Saturday nights, my buddy Jim and I would walk up in the cold winter air, pay our money, lace up our skates on the benches in the indoor shelter, leaving our shoes underneath, and go out on the ice and try to meet girls. Occasionally we even succeeded!

Spring brought breezy weather in March, and it was time to pull out the kites. Again, we’d stand at the top of the highest hill by the playground, facing east. I remember one time when I had a ball of string, maybe 1000 feet long, and had my kite out nearly the whole length, and high up in the air, when the string broke. It was gone! I wonder where it ended up? Later spring brought class picnics when we were in elementary school, with games and time to climb the old “monkey bars” and swing on the swings and slide down the big sliding board. This was before the day when play areas had wood chips that made for soft landings. At that time, the surface was asphalt, and I recall more than one scraped knee!

As spring transitioned to summer, it was time for baseball! In high school, I played on a church league fast pitch softball team and we often played games on one of the baseball diamonds. I was never much of a baseball player and I think my career ended when I broke my thumb playing first base (as a right hander with my left hand being my glove hand). I didn’t usually play that position and was reaching to catch a ball thrown to put a runner out when the runner collided with me–spikes on the leg and a broken thumb. I actually finished the game and didn’t find out until later than night that the thumb was broken!

About then, I switched over to tennis, and often played tennis on the courts. It was cool because, at least then, you could play at night as well. I had several buddies on the tennis team at Chaney and thought about joining the team, because I could beat them at least half the time. I never got into golf, but lots of my friends caddied or played at the par 3 golf course that opened up some time in the 1960’s (I believe).

Another summer memory was concerts out on the lawn. I remember hearing Lionel Hampton as kid. I don’t think I realized what a jazz great he was then, though my parents were pretty excited to hear him. Sitting out on lawn chairs and hearing live music as the air cooled down on a summer evening was fun.

I kept playing tennis into the early fall, and then there were pickup touch football games with friends, or when we got to college, Ultimate Frisbee games on whatever field we could find that didn’t have another game going. Eventually, the cold and rainy weather of November drove us inside until the snows and cold came and the ice rink opened once again.

The James L. Wick, Jr. Recreation Area is still a year-round recreation area. Sadly, the ice rink closed some years ago. Now there is a “Sled Hill” with a Warming House and snack shop, as well as opportunities for cross country skiing. The play area is much more child-safe than in our day, with three different play areas. There is a permanent concert pavilion, the Judge Morley Performing Arts Pavilion, sand volleyball courts, and batting cages.

I have to admit, the name “The James L. Wick, Jr. Recreation Area” was always a mouthful for me. We always just called it “Rocky Ridge” (I’ve also heard Rock Ridge, occasionally). Now the name Rocky Ridge is used to describe the neighborhoods north of there between South Schenley and South Belle Vista Avenues up to Mahoning Avenue. There is even a Rocky Ridge Neighbors group. I’m glad they have kept the name alive!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Volney Rogers

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When I was growing up, Volney Rogers was the other junior high school on the West Side. We were rivals in junior high football, soon to be classmates at Chaney High School, into which both schools fed.  I may have been dimly aware that there was a real Volney Rogers and that he had something to do with Mill Creek Park, but other than that, I was clueless. That’s too bad, because learning more about Volney Rogers would have taught me a good bit both about responsible citizenship and Mill Creek Park.

Do you know that very likely there would not have been a Mill Creek Park were it not for the efforts of Volney Rogers? The rock in places like Bears Den might have been dug out and used for construction. The trees that line Mill Creek gorge might have gone to sawmills and been used up in home construction. There would have been no Lakes Glacier, Cohasset, or Newport. Pioneer Pavilion would not have been preserved. There would likely be no Lanterman Falls and Old Mill. Mill Creek might have been either an industrial stream or possibly dammed for a reservoir. The trails, the picnic areas, the scenic views–none of it may have existed were it not for the vision and industry of Rogers.

Volney Rogers was a lawyer, along with his brother Disney, with offices in downtown Youngstown. In 1890, he explored Mill Creek Gorge on horseback and determined to preserve it, even as stone quarries and sawmills were beginning to strip the gorge of its rugged beauty. He secured rights to large tracts of land from over 90 owners, helped write and pass “The Township Park Improvement Law” that created the park district, and turned over the land he had acquired in 1891, creating Mill Creek Park. He worked with his brother Bruce, and noted landscape architect, Charles Eliot (who had worked with Frederick Law Olmsted, a notable architect of the urban parks in major cities throughout the U.S.). During a recession in 1893, the park offered a source of work for men who laid out trails, restored Pioneer Pavilion, and built the dam for Lake Cohasset. Lake Glacier’s dam was also completed during Rogers life, being built in 1906.

Rogers was a lawyer who understood the implications of land use, sewage disposal, and the environmental implications of poor infrastructure decisions. Vindicator articles on August 9 and August 10, 2015 chronicle his fight against big steel to avoid running sewer lines for storm sewer run-offs into Mill Creek. He took the fight all the way to the Ohio Supreme Court, losing in the end, and losing with it his health. He left Youngstown shortly after, broken-hearted, and died in 1919. In 2015, Mill Creek’s lakes were closed for all purposes because of high e. coli levels, a result of the very problems Rogers foresaw.

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Volney Rogers Monument, an early postcard.

In 1920, a bronze statue of Rogers was erected near the main entrance to the park on Memorial Hill Drive, just off of Glenwood Avenue, a monument which remains. So often, we build monuments to great people but forget what they really did and what we could learn from them. Rogers fight with big steel is one more example repeated so often in Youngstown history of sacrificing the long term good of the city to a powerful interest. More positively, Rogers is an outstanding example of the kind of civic leader every city needs in every generation if it is to be a great place. He devoted his time, energies, his own money, and ultimately his health to leave Youngstown a beautiful place. Who are the civic leaders in Youngstown today who will follow his lead and set aside self-interest and self-aggrandizement to leave Youngstown a better place in the twenty-first century?

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Pioneer Pavilion

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1916 Postcard of Pioneer Pavilion

Did you ever attend a party or a wedding at Pioneer Pavilion when you were growing up? I have at least two memories of events at the Pavilion. The first was a square dance a college fellowship I was a part of had in the Pavilion. The wood floors, beams and stonework made it the perfect complement to our dance, which was just a good and fun way to meet people and work off some energy. I remember the dance being in the fall, and when we got a bit warm, we could step outside into the cool night air and cool off and look at the stars in the autumn sky.

The other memory was a wedding held outside in the middle of the summer. It was a beautiful setting except that some bees found the bride’s bouquet very attractive, a bit of a distraction from the joyous proceedings. But the setting was gorgeous, the bees eventually dealt with, and the couple well, and happily married.

I was amazed to learn that the Pavilion is nearly 200 years old and one of the oldest structures in Youngstown, being built in 1821, long before the founding of Mill Creek Park in 1891. According to the Mill Creek Metroparks website, it originally served as a mill for carding and fulling wool, then later as a storeroom for the nearby Mill Creek Furnace. Obviously, this sandstone structure was well-built and has served as a gathering place for parties, weddings and other events since it was remodeled for this purpose shortly after the park’s founding, in 1893. According to Wikipedia, the renovation of the Pavilion in 1893 helped provide employment for men who had lost jobs during the Panic of 1893.

Pioneer Pavilion is located on a portion of Old Furnace Road (connecting it with its Mill Creek Furnace history) that descends steeply into the Mill Creek gorge part of the park from the intersection with West Cohasset Drive on the west, and Robinson Hill Drive on the east. I used to love to coast down the hill on the one side, making the tight bend by the Pavilion and then the strenuous climb up the other side.

Pioneer Pavilion continues to serve the Youngstown area as a location for graduations, weddings, family reunions, and other events. The upstairs can accommodate up to 96 people, the downstairs up to 24. Gas log fireplaces add to the ambiance. Rental information is available on the Mill Creek Metroparks website.

Pioneer Pavilion, along with Lanterman’s Mill, is one of the historical and architectural treasures of Youngstown. I am amazed how similar recent pictures of the Pavilion look to the postcard above from 1916. None of us knows what the future will bring but I hope there will be those with the foresight of Volney Rogers who will continue to maintain this historic building, and monument to Youngstown’s early industrial heritage, for future generations.

I’d love to hear your memories of gatherings at Pioneer Pavilion!

Growing Up in Working Class Youngstown — Fellows Riverside Gardens

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Lake Glacier from Fellows Riverside Gardens (c) Robert C Trube, 2014

The two overlooks at Fellows Riverside Gardens provide views of the two faces of Youngstown. The north overlook provides a vista of the Mahoning Valley. One can see the sites of former steel mills, and further off, two significant Youngstown institutions, St Elizabeth Health Center and Youngstown State. In the foreground to the right is the former Isaly facility, and further off the downtown. The other overlook, to the south, reveals the north end of Mill Creek Metro Park, with a grand view of Lake Glacier. On one side the changing economy of the city, on the other, its emerald jewel.

In 1958, Elizabeth Fellows bequeathed this property and funds to establish the gardens that bear her name and are now visited by over 400,000 each year. Plantings began in 1963 and it seemed like my life has woven through this site ever since. My dad and I went for walks in the park often and we walked there soon after the first plantings began, mostly roses if I recall.  We went to the garden center and looked at plans for the future expansion.

As the years passed, more garden beds, shady alcoves, fountains and paths were laid out. It was a great place in spring and summer to go for walks with your sweetheart. We have photos of a summer afternoon at the Gardens, each of us against the backdrop of the south overlook with Lake Glacier in the distance. We have wedding photos of the two of us sitting by the fountain, and of us gazing lovingly at each other with Lake Glacier in the background once again. That photo is just across the room from me as I write. Oh, we were young, thin(!), and in love. I can say that at least the “in love” part is truer than ever after nearly 38 years.

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Victorian Gazebo at Fellows Riverside Gardens  by Aamir515 at en.wikipedia [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC BY-SA 2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], from Wikimedia Commons

After we moved away, the Gazebo was built, yet another great site for weddings. We would take our parents to the Gardens on visits back and it seemed to just grow in beauty, even in the midst of Youngstown’s struggles. In later years, the D.D. and Velma Davis Education and Visitor Center was built. My dad knew D.D. Davis and thought highly of him. You cannot imagine how thrilled he and my mom were when we celebrated their sixtieth anniversary there in the summer of 2001, with a catered dinner in the gallery, and a family picture on the overlook to Lake Glacier on the center’s terrace. For a few years after my parents continued to enjoy good health, and even as they grew more frail, one or the other of us would take them to the Gardens from time to time.

About five years ago was our last visit. It was for the wedding of a college friend’s daughter. Our son and she grew up going to the Canfield Fair every year before her mom passed. They knew each other well enough to not be interested in other–just good friends. One of our memories from that day was getting pictures of my son and his wife at the same spot where we had posed for our wedding. There was also a moment that day that caught at our hearts, as we found a brick remembering my wife’s dad and his brothers, all of whom had passed.

The seasons and generations of plantings at Fellows mirror the seasons and generations of the families whose stories have woven through this place. The spring of young love gives way to the summers of families with children and parents enjoying the gardens together. Diamond Anniversaries symbolize the autumn years as does sitting peacefully with Dad on a bench, too frail to walk much, but drinking in the beauty and the memories. And there is winter, when we have names and memories of those who have passed…and the hope of Spring’s New Life.