MILL CREEK PARK
AND THE
SOURCE OF MILL CREEK
BY CHARLES BURLEIGH GALBREATH
When the earth took spherical and solid
form, it
presented in the earliest ages whose
records have been
deciphered on the rocks, a surface of
land and water.
The continental areas were then limited
and low.
Much of what now constitutes the dry
land was under
water. In North America the land
portions were chiefly
north of the Great Lakes. What is now
the Mississippi
valley was then covered by a great
inland sea of com-
paratively shallow depth.
It should be remembered that
sedimentary rocks, or
those formed and placed by the action
of water, are de-
posited in successive layers or strata.
At the basis of
all such rock formation is what, for a
better designa-
tion, we may call the primordial
bed-rock. Scientists
differ as to its origin. Those who
still accept the nebular
hypothesis of Laplace claim that this
bed-rock is a part
of the original crust of the earth and
was formed when
the surface changed, in cooling, from a
molten to a
solid condition. Others claim that the
heat that pro-
duced this came from the center of the
earth. It is
enough for us to know that this
primordial bed-rock
exists; that its condition is due to
heat; that the ele-
ments composing it are of igneous or
metamorphic
(137)
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 139
origin. Upon this foundation were
deposited the sedi-
mentary rock formations of subsequent
time.
The first dry land in what is now Ohio
was part of
an island in the south-west corner of
the State which
gradually rose from the surface of the
sea including also
portions of what is now Indiana and
Kentucky. The
period of this island formation is
called the Ordovician.
This period was followed by the
Silurian, in which
this dry land was greatly extended toward
the north-
east; another portion belonging to this
period extended
from the south-western shore of Lake
Erie in a south-
western direction, separated from the
larger portion be-
longing to the same period by a strait
of the inland or
epicontinental sea.
The Silurian was followed by the Monroe
period. In
this dry land was again extended in a
general easterly
direction; the strait between the two
portions of the
Silurian formation was closed; but a
portion of present
north-western and more than the eastern
half of the
State was still under water.
This was followed by the Devonian
period which ex-
tended the dry land and formed the rim
of the south-
eastern shore of Lake Erie, but did not
extend so far
south as Mahoning County. At the end of
the Devonian
period Mahoning and Columbiana counties
were still
under water.
The shallow waters that spread over
these two coun-
ties were teeming with the marine life
of the Devonian
period--the "age of fishes."
The fossil remains of this
period became imbedded in the rocks
forming at the bot-
tom of the epicontinental sea. The
bottom of this sea
was gradually rising and later became
the surface of the
140
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
dry land of these two counties. This
extension of dry
land is known as the Mississippian
period.
The next extension of dry land to the
south and east
is the Pennsylvanian period. At its
close practically all
of the epicontinental sea was excluded
from what is now
Ohio. Only a narrow strip along the
south-eastern
part of the State remained.
In the following or Permian period this
portion rose
from the sea and all of what we now
call Ohio became
dry land.
While the formation of the earth's
crust in Ohio
presents a regular procession from the
emergence of the
Ordovician island above the
epicontinental sea to the
final disappearance of that sea in the
Permian period,
it must not be concluded that this
procession was at no
time interrupted. In some of the
periods vast areas of
land were raised above the water and
subsequently sank
beneath the waves to rise again and
become what we
now know as a permanent part of the dry
land.
The evolution from the primordial
bed-rock of the
continental sea to permanent dry land
has been all too
briefly traced. It is hoped that the
maps included in
the appendix to this contribution may
help the layman,
who has not studied geology, to follow
this evolution.
The region including Youngstown, Mill
Creek Park
and its valley to the spring at its
source belongs to the
Mississippian and the Pennsylvanian
divisions of the
Carboniferous period. A booklet
entitled Introducing
Our Ancestors, setting forth in detail "the geology of
Youngstown," by John Chase,
published in 1928, gives
detailed description of the geology not
only of Youngs-
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 141
town but of adjacent regions. We quote
briefly from
its pages:
There was no period in the history of
our earth when life
was so abundant as in the Pennsylvanian
formation of the car-
boniferous period. The rocks of the
north hill, those high up on
Market Street and on the east side were
laid down at this time.
The earth was just about two-thirds done
when this took place.
The world was just about a junior in
high school. In other
words it was about 65,000,000 years old
if we calculate roughly
that the world is approximately
100,000,000 years old now. This
total age of our earth can only be
estimated. A new method of
determination by noting how much radium
has turned to lead in
the lava of different ages (more having
turned in the old rocks)
would seem to triple and even multiply
by ten earth's age, but the
above is a safe minimum.
This goes to show that in estimating
the length of
geological periods of time one does not
need to be over
careful in the matter of a few hundred
million years.
Since first this continent emerged
From recordless abyss,
the State of Ohio has grown from the
earliest geological
time through millions of years. Long
after the epicon-
tinental sea had receded from what now
constitutes Ohio
and this region had become permanently
dry land, a
great ice-sheet or glacier slowly
descended from what is
now Canada, moving over Lake Erie and a
large por-
tion of the Ohio country. Some writers
have estimated
that this ice-sheet was in places
perhaps two miles thick.
It brought with it great quantities of
granite rock from
Canada and these are now found
distributed over the
region that it covers. It leveled the
surface of the earth
over which it passed, ground rock
formations into sand
and silt, filled valleys, dammed
streams and rivers and
changed in many instances the surface
and drainage
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 143
systems of northern and western Ohio.
It pressed on-
ward until the ice melted at the
southern limit indicated
on the map.
Some evidence has been found indicating
that man
inhabited the region before the descent
of this glacier,
but this evidence is far from
satisfactory and conclusive.
Following the ice age this region was
the abode of
many animals of immense size. The
mastodon and the
mammoth roamed over the plains and through
the for-
ests. The skeleton of a mastodon found
in Franklin
County is now on exhibition at Ohio
State University.
The skeleton of a mammoth found in
Morrow County,
unmounted, is in the Ohio State
Archaeological and His-
torical Society Museum.
In his Historical Collections of
Ohio, Henry Howe
makes the following statement:
No single cause has done more to
diversify the surface of
the country, to add to the
attractiveness of the scenery and to
furnish the key by which the condition
of the ice age can be re-
produced to the mind's eye than glacial
dams. To them we owe
the present existence of nearly all the
waterfalls of North
America, as well as nearly all the
lakes.
He then proceeds to describe the dam
made in the
vicinity of what is now Cincinnati when
the great
glacier came down from the north and
pushed across
the river there:
A glacial dam across the Ohio River is
supposed to have
existed at the site of Cincinnati during
the Ice Age and the evi-
dence supporting the theory is so full
and conclusive that its
existence can almost be assumed as an
absolute certainty.
Howe then quotes at length from
Professor G.
Frederick Wright in support of this
statement and pre-
144 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
sents a map showing the large area
covered by this dam
leading up the Ohio River beyond the
city of Pittsburgh
and extending in width from Charleston,
West Virginia,
to Columbus, Ohio.
In his booklet to which reference has
already been
made Mr. Chase presents a map showing
that originally
the Ohio River flowed through the
valley of the Beaver
River, into the Mahoning, past the
present site of
Youngstown, through the valley of Grand
River north-
ward and emptied into Lake Erie. In the
Ice Age the
glacier moved southward over the site
of Youngstown,
dammed the Beaver River and poured the
drainage from
that stream accelerated by its own
melting waters into
the Ohio and down the channel which it
has since fol-
lowed.
An eminent divine, in his popular
lecture, "The
Sunny Side of Life," introduced
his subject with the
following sentence:
While we may leave it to the
evolutionist to guess where we
came from and to the theologian to
prophesy to where we are
to go, we still have left for our consideration the
important fact
that we are here.
He followed this with the statement
that it was a
very good place to be; for where could
we find Nature
more appropriately arrayed; what could
be a better
color for the grass of the meadow and
the foliage of
the forest than green; or the water
than crystalline; or
the sky than blue; or the sunshine than
golden. He then
drew the conclusion that mortals are
fortunate to get
aboard this grand old earth of ours at
the close of the
nineteenth century in the United States
of America.
Later it was the writer's privilege to
hear Edward
146 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Orton, Jr., the geologist, read a paper
in which he spoke
as one having authority. He had long
studied the pro-
cession of the ages as deciphered from
the rocks and in
intimate association with his
distinguished father. In
this paper he concluded that we are
most fortunate to
live in the opening years of the
twentieth century when
the earth has assumed a comparatively
quiet condition,
when knowledge "rich with the
spoils of time," has won
new victories and hand in hand with
Nature has brought
to humanity "the golden age of all
time."
The poets for generations have brought
tribute to
Nature:
To sit on rocks, to look o'er flood and
fell
To slowly trace the forest's shady scene
Where things that own not man's dominion
dwell
And mortal foot hath ne'er or rarely
been;
To climb the trackless mountain all
unseen
With the wild flock that never needs a
fold,
Alone o'er steeps and foaming falls to
lean--
This is not solitude; 'tis but to hold
Converse with Nature's charms and view
her stores unroll.
And who has not heard and committed to
memory
the lines of our American poet:
To him who in the love of Nature holds
Communion with her visible forms she
speaks
A various language; for his gayer hours
She has a voice of gladness, and a smile
And eloquence of beauty, and she glides
Into his darker musings with a mild
And healing sympathy, that steals away
Their sharpness ere he is aware.
"She has a smile and eloquence of
beauty."
Where, if not in the wide and varied
realm of nature
shall we find beauty? When fortune
throws us into
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 147
intimate relation with this realm and
makes its treas-
ures our daily portion we may take them
all as a matter
of course. When, however, we are
removed from this
fortunate environment we feel, somewhat
vaguely, per-
haps, that something has gone out of
our lives; and
when it is our fortune to return to the
old familiar
haunts of nature, we find in them a
beauty and a majesty
never recognized before.
A youth who had witnessed the
resurrection of the
spring-time every year since his
infancy went to live
in-doors in a city and returned to the
old farm in apple-
blossom time. As he gazed on the
orchard, which was
a wilderness of bloom, and inhaled the
delicate fra-
grance, he audibly uttered from the
fullness of his heart,
"What could be more
beautiful?" A trip to the wood-
land when trees and flowers are in
their springtime array
reveals new beauties never recognized
before.
To city dwellers proximity of a public
park offers
opportunity for that communion with
nature to which
the poets pay tribute. Here are rest and health and
beauty in her varied visible forms.
While Ohio has a goodly number of parks
of various
kinds, that fact has not been
prominently featured in
any history that has been written. Such
has been the
growth of interest in the subject that
it is safe to say
that it will claim steadily increasing
attention through
the coming years not only in Ohio but
generally through-
out the United States.
Space in this hastily written
contribution will not
afford room for a list and even a brief
description of all
the parks in our State. Many of these
are so small
that they should better be called
Monuments or Me-
148
Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
morials and it is scarcely necessary to
say that the park
depends for its importance on its size.
We shall do
well to remember as we have quoted an
enthusiast, that
other things being equal, an ideal park
should have at
the outset, grounds ample for its
purposes.
Columbus, our capital city, has four
parks that are
worthy of mention. They are named in
chronological
order of their establishment: Schiller,
Goodale, Frank-
lin and Riverside Parks.
Cleveland, the metropolis of the State,
has Rocke-
feller Park, containing 273 acres--once
the residence
of John D. Rockefeller. It has, also,
Gordon Park, 112
acres, and Wade Park, 85 acres, which
is really an ex-
tension of Gordon, making of both 197
acres; Edge-
water, 126 acres; Brookside, 149 acres;
Woodland Hills,
102 acres; Shaker Heights, 279 acres;
also Lincoln Park
and Franklin Circle.
Mount Airy Forest Park, the largest in
suburban
Cincinnati, contains 973 acres; Eden
Park, 209 acres;
Burnet Woods, 165 acres; Ault Park, 172
acres;
Blackly Farm, 114 acres; Mount Echo, 51
acres; Mount
Storm, 67 acres; Parker's Woods, 32
acres.
Toledo has Ottawa, Bay View, Navarre,
City, and
Collins Parks with an aggregate of 910
acres.
St. Louis has the famous Forest Park in
which the
Louisiana Purchase Exposition was held,
containing
1372 acres; also Tower Grove and
attractive Shaw's
Garden, containing an aggregate of 207
acres.
The important parks of Chicago are
Lincoln, 320
acres; Lake Front, 210 acres; Jackson,
in which the
Columbian Exposition was held in 1893,
580 acres;
Humboldt, 200 acres.
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 149
The famous New York Central Park
contains 840
acres; Bronx, 719 acres; Prospect Park
in Brooklyn,
516 acres; Silver Lake on Staten
Island, 300 acres.
Wissahickon Valley Park in
Philadelphia, greatly
famed for its wild and unspoiled
beauty, a park in the
same class as Mill Creek, is smaller,
containing 1010
acres.
Youngstown has five parks:
Lincoln Park, the second in size, is
located in the
eastern part of the city. It includes
Dry Run gorge and
hilltop land aggregating sixty acres.
Crandall Park is located in the
northern part of the
city. It includes a deep and
picturesque gorge and has
an area of fifty acres.
Wick Park, located in the North Side,
well within the
city limits, was donated to the city by
the Wick family.
It is a level tract and has been
beautified by flower beds.
It contains thirty-four acres.
Pine Hollow Park comprises a deep,
heavily wooded
gorge twenty-two acres in extent.
Mill Creek Park, it will be seen, now
surpasses in
extent many of the famous parks of the
larger cities of
the United States and contains 1375
acres. Even
the famous Golden Gate Park of San
Francisco contains
only a little more than 1000 acres.
In an appendix to this contribution
there is given a
list of parks in Ohio under national
and state control.
This contribution will be devoted
largely to Mill Creek
Park of Youngstown, Ohio, the largest
municipal park
in the State, one of the largest in the
United States and
one unsurpassed anywhere in the variety
and extent of
its natural scenic beauty.
150 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
MILL CREEK PARK*
Mill Creek Park is the property of
Youngstown
Township, Mahoning County, Ohio,
including the City
of Youngstown. It is located partly
within the city
limits and there are two entrances,
each one and one-
fourth miles from Central Square, the
central business
portion of the city.
The one dominating feature of the park
is its natural,
beautiful and picturesque scenery. An
eminent land-
scape architect, the late Charles Eliot
of Boston (son of
Dr. Charles W. Eliot, president of
Harvard College),
who visited the park in 1891, after
careful observation
said:
"So far as natural beauty is
concerned there is no
park in the country to compare with
Mill Creek Park.
It is as if a bit of choice scenery had
been taken from
the mountains of Switzerland, and
deposited in a level
country."
Another eminent landscape architect,
the late H. W.
S. Cleveland, of Minneapolis, visited
this park in 1893
and afterwards wrote of it as follows:
"The existence of a tract
comprising such a rare
combination of attractive natural
features in the imme-
diate vicinity of a city is, so far as
my experience goes,
unparalleled elsewhere.
"The fact that for its whole
extent it has been pre-
served from vandalism by those who have
no conception
of any other than a pecuniary value,
and finally the
appreciation of its character and
capacity for develop-
* The portion of the contribution under this
caption, with the exception
of the quotation from Mr. Thomas, is
taken from the book by Volney
Rogers, to which reference is made on
page 161.
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek 151 |
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
ment, which has led to its being
secured and reserved
for all coming time, as a resort for
refreshment and
enjoyment by all classes of citizens,
are each and all
subjects for congratulation, the
essential value and
importance of which cannot be justly
measured; but will
certainly go on from year to year and
cannot fail event-
ually to confer a distinctive character
upon your city,
as the possessor of a park so unique in
the variety and
beauty of its natural scenery that it
cannot elsewhere
be rivaled."
Mr. Edward S. Thomas, curator of
Natural History
of the Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society,
who has visited the Park and addressed
audiences there,
has very recently written the following
appreciation:
"Mill Creek Park is the most
beautiful and spectac-
ular municipal park in the State of
Ohio--perhaps in
the United States. I realize that there
are many
municipal parks in Ohio and many more
in the United
States which I have not been privileged
to see. How-
ever, I stand by my statement,
confident that no city
park, regardless of its beauty, could
be more beautiful
and spectacular than Mill Creek Park.
At the same
time, I must confess that I have a
particular weakness
for massive sandstone cliffs and deep,
dark gorges
carved in the sandstone rock, and hence
I may be
grossly prejudiced in favor of the
subject of these re-
marks.
"Imagine if you will, such a gorge
winding through
the limits of an Ohio city--mile after
mile to deep,
shaded ravines, the walls softened and
beautified by a
dainty curtain of evergreen hemlock
sprays; ferns and
mosses and green liverworts decorating
the cliff-faces;
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek 153 |
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
and, at the bottom, one of the
prettiest rippling streams
which one is privileged to see--and you
have an idea of
the beauty of Mill Creek Park.
"The dark brown sandstone belongs
to the Massillon
Formation and the forces of nature have
sculptured it
into seamed and weathered cliffs the
like of which are
found in but a few restricted
localities in Ohio. The
rugged bluffs which border the stream
are honey-
combed with many niches and crannies
which provide a
grateful haven for a host of rare
interesting cliff-
dwelling plants.
"The gorge is flanked by row upon
row of beautiful
hemlock trees, in my opinion, the
loveliest of all Ohio
species of evergreen. Tall and
straight, the spars
stretch up, graceful and symmetrical,
from roots which
often find a footing in the crevices in
the side of the
cliff. As for the foliage, what could
be more delicate
than the lacelike tracery of hemlock
boughs? Beneath
the hemlock there is an undergrowth of
mountain maple,
evergreen American yew, trailing
arbutus and a dozen
other rare and attractive wild plants
and shrubs. And,
mind you, all of this within the city
limits of Youngs-
town!"
The Park, in brief, is a gorge, and its
environments:
a picturesque stream coursing through
its center, hav-
ing fine cascades and waterfalls,
cliffs and bluffs upon
each side of from sixty to over a
hundred feet in height
clothed with sylva and flora
exceedingly rich in variety
and beauty.-
In a direct line the Park is two and
one-fourth miles
in length. Its width varies from a few
hundred feet at
places where the gorge is narrow to a
half, three-
fourths and in one instance over a
mile, where it includes
156 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Bear Creek and its enchanting
surroundings. The
windings of Mill Creek make the Park
seem much longer
than it really is; the main driveways
follow the banks or
bluffs of the main stream upon each
side and are con-
nected by a bridge across the gorge,
where most remote
from the city, ninety feet in height.
The length of these drives is twenty
miles; thirteen
and three-fourths miles of gravel
roads; four and three-
fourths miles of macadam; one and
one-half miles of
dirt roads; twelve miles of foot trails
and seven miles
bridle paths in the Park. There are
interesting cross-
drives completed of two and one-fourth
miles in length.
There are eleven handsome, durable bridges
within
the park limits. Where the drives are
necessarily
upon the bluffs, foot-paths have been
made along
the banks of the main stream on each
side, and fine
vistas have also been opened from good
viewpoints
along both drive-ways and foot-paths.
Sometimes the
bluffs gracefully recede from the
stream for consider-
able distances, leaving stretches of
open green valleys;
then again they boldly return to its
banks, and to the
eye seem to shut off its passage. There
are meadows,
lakes, islands, swift-running streams,
waterfalls, cliffs,
natural grottos, and wooded hills of
unending variety
and interest. To the stranger who
visits Mill Creek
Park there is a pleasant surprise
always, and to the resi-
dent of Youngstown who is somewhat
familiar with its
more prominent features there is always
something new.
The face of nature changes there, as
the seasons come
and go, in forms and pictures of
wondrous beauty.
Mill Creek Park is a place that never
disappoints an
intelligent, appreciative visitor.
This Park is naturally well drained and
abounds with
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek 157 |
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Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
ample shade, as well as excellent
springs and pure clear
water, convenient to all its parts. It
adjoins the city
on the west or windward side insuring
pure air from the
country for the refreshment of visitors
while at the Park,
and in a measure preserving and passing
to the city
generally, better air at all times than
would have been
the case had this large territory been
occupied for resi-
dence or manufacturing purposes. The benefits to
health that will result from its
establishment and preser-
vation are incalculable.
Add to this the refreshing charm of its
grand
natural scenery and Mill Creek Park
takes rank at once
as one of the most valuable park
properties in America.
POPULAR SUPPORT AND LEADERSHIP
An enterprise calling for a generous
manifestation
of public spirit requires popular
support and enthu-
siastic leadership. Mill Creek Park has
had both. No
one man achieved it, of course, nor was
it achieved
without enthusiastic, persistent,
efficient leadership. Of
this the evidence is so abundant and
conclusive that there
is no news in this statement for the
good people of
Youngstown. We reproduce some of the
testimonials
for the inspiration that they may carry
to other commu-
nities and the knowledge that they may
bear to tourists
that Ohio has within her borders one of
the largest and
most attractive municipal parks within
the United
States.
The late Joseph Butler, capitalist and
public-spirited
citizen of Youngstown, who presented
that city with her
beautiful art gallery, was in the later
years of his life
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 159
the editor of a History of
Youngstown and Mahoning
County. In that history we
find the following account
of "Mill Creek Park."
Youngstown has five parks that range in
area from twenty-
two acres upwards, but among these Mill Creek Park
takes
precedence.
Back in the summer of 1797, but a few
weeks after the set-
tlement that was to become the City of
Youngstown was first
located, two youthful members of the
pioneer Youngstown party
threaded their way up the valley of a
creek and through a mag-
nificent gorge to the beautiful
waterfall that was later to become
known as Lanterman's Falls. Probably
venturesome white men
had visited the valley even before that
summer, but it was almost
a century after Youngstown's founding
before there was any
movement to dedicate this spot for park
purposes.
The originator of this movement, the
"Father of Mill Creek
Park," was Volney Rogers, attorney,
but recently deceased.
Struck by the apparent beauty of this
place, Mr. Rogers decided
to become better acquainted with it, and
on a summer day in
1890,
explored the valley on horseback. As there was neither
road, trail or even footpath he was
forced to ride much of the
way in the bed of Mill Creek, but made
the journey from the
mouth of the creek to Lanterman's Falls.
Later, while engaged
in professional work for the public Mr.
Rogers spent two months
in the vicinity of the park and in
morning and evening walks
through the gorge and along the hills
became more enamored with
the spot and conceived the project of
preserving this spot for all
time for the public as a great
breathing-place. It was a work
that had to be done at the time as the
trees were rapidly being
stripped from Mahoning County lands and
the hillsides blasted
away by quarrymen.
On his own initiative Mr. Rogers secured
private contracts
with 154 of the 196 persons interested
in the ownership of this
property. He then prepared, and
presented to the State Legis-
lature, a bill providing for a township
park commission of three
members and, by personal calls on
influential citizens created sen-
timent that resulted in the passage of
the "Township Park Im-
provement Act." The Mill Creek Valley lay some distance
outside the city limits of Youngstown as
fixed at that time.
In the movement to issue bonds for park
improvement Mr.
Rogers again assumed the leadership,
setting an example by
taking $25,000 worth of these bonds
himself. The options that
Mr. Rogers had obtained were then turned
over to the park board,
160 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
and land that could not be purchased
outright was appropriated.
For Mr. Rogers there was much voluntary
expense and no re-
muneration, nor would he have considered
any.
Improvement of the park property was
begun in 1892, the
park bill having been passed early in
1891, and in 1893-94 this
work received considerable impetus. Work
for betterment has
gone on since, and not always without
opposition, for there have
been proposals for
"improvements" that would mean actual ruin
to the park. In fact Mr. Rogers was forced to defend
the park
to his death from encroachments of
material-minded persons.
* * * * *
The park is still managed by a special
board of commissioners,
although it is now wholly within the
city, the present board mem-
bers being C. S. Robinson, W. C. Stitt
and Dr. H. D.. Morgan.
Mr. Rogers' great work was recognized by
the movement that
began before his death for a Rogers'
memorial statue to be placed
near the Falls Avenue entrance, a
project that will soon be real-
ized.
Charles Edwin Hopkins in his attractive Ohio
the
Beautiful and Historic, 1931, presents the following
description of Mill Creek Park:
Volney Rogers of Youngstown, another of
the steel towns
of the Western Reserve, is dead, but an
entire city reveres the
memory of the eccentric bachelor, who
loved birds, rocks, flowers,
and waterfalls, and in the words of the
bard, found
". . . tongues in trees, books in
the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in
everything."
Rogers loved a beautiful stream--a
little tributary of the
Mahoning River--named by some
well-meaning utilitarian Mill
Creek. Thirty years ago, when a nature
lover was regarded as a
mild variety of lunatic, especially in a
city as highly industrialized
as Youngstown, Rogers rode through the
gorge of Mill Creek on
horseback. He rode three miles up the
Creek. It was a
little exploration expedition of his own
into a realm of undis-
covered wild beauty near home. There are
such places near
everyone's home. But if Volney Rogers
had not formed an
unselfish idea, his particular discovery
would have been interest-
ing to no one else. He wished to share
the beauty of Mill Creek
Gorge with others and to preserve it for
posterity. So he under-
took an unusual task. He knew that in
America stream valleys
near industrial centers usually become convenient dumping-
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 161
grounds for industrial waste and sewage,
and that often our
fairest outlooks are cluttered with
eye-assaulting importunities
because there "is no law
against" boorish publicity. He began a
movement to effect the preservation of
the Mill Creek Gorge.
Youngstown was not large enough at the
time to encompass
all of Mill Creek. The stream extended
into the county. That
meant that county authorities had to be
enlisted. Finally, the
State Legislature had to be induced to
pass an enabling act to
provide for a township park. That was
not all. Rogers had to
persuade 196 land-owners--some of them
hostile to the idea--to
sell. And when bonds were issued to
provide the funds to make
the purchases, Volney Rogers, by no
means a man of wealth,
bought $25,000 worth of the bonds and
requested that his be the
last to be redeemed.
Mill Creek Park is about six miles in
length and contains
*1,200
acres to which additions are being made
from time to
time. That is a considerable park area
for a small city like
Youngstown. There are five cascades and
waterfalls in the gorge,
sandstone cliffs from sixty to one
hundred feet in height, native
evergreens--hemlocks--growing in their
natural settings, en-
chanting trails, automobile highways.
Preferably, one should visit
Mill Creek Park on foot, for the
automobile does: not take one to
its nooks and dells; one should wander
along the bluff-trails,
Lover's Lane, under Umbrella Rock, and
rest on the rustic chairs
beneath the cool natural roof of Shelter
Cave. Automobile road-
ways encircle the entire gorge from the
Mahoning River, to Lan-
terman's Falls and return. It is a
twelve-mile circle from the
public square of Youngstown by way of
Mahoning Avenue to
the west side of the gorge. Leaving the
park by the Falls Avenue
entrance, one passes the statue of
eccentric Volney Rogers, done
in bronze, with his ubiquitous umbrella
tied in the middle--the
man who loved birds, flowers and little
children.
One of the most beautiful parks in the
United States is this
one in Youngstown. Artifice has made its
charms accessible, but
unsullied nature is its real asset.
In 1904 Volney Rogers published a
neatly printed
and bound volume of one hundred and
twenty pages
entitled, A Partial Description of Mill Creek Park,
Youngstown, Ohio, with some Papers,
Reports and Laws
Connected with Park Work. As an
example of his
* Now 1375 acres.
Vol. XLIII--11
162 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
style and his clear and logical
thinking on the subject
close to his heart, we reproduce in
full his chapter on
PARKS AND OPEN SPACES
The first and most important thing in
park work is to secure
desirable land and an abundance of it for park
purposes. Unless
this is done, the municipality suffers
for parks, or extravagant
sums have to be paid for land to provide
them. The result of
such neglect is, that the park system,
seldom if ever, becomes what
it should be.
Every city should have numerous open
spaces distributed
throughout its area, and particularly in
thickly populated districts;
so that there may be a convenient oasis,
or green place for pure
air, bright sunshine, and grateful shade
for daily rest and recre-
ation open to all.
In addition to this there should be
public playgrounds for
children in charge of a keeper, who
would enforce good morals
and proper behavior. These are needs in
civic communities that
large parks cannot supply.
Public parks proper, when the cost of
land is taken into ac-
count should be at various convenient
points in the outer portions
of the city, and be sufficiently large
in area to permit any in-
habitant any day to find an inviting
secluded place within their
borders.
All else being equal, the preferable
park location would be
in the direction from which the
prevailing winds come to the
city, thus insuring the best atmosphere
obtainable.
A beautiful lake; a grand sweeping
river; a gorge or valley,
with chattering brooklets,
forest-crowned bluffs, and shaded ra-
vines; a green expansive lawn or meadow
stretching from stream
or lake to wooded hills, and in the hazy
distance a forest-covered
mountain touching the sky, are some of
the ideals that should be
sought for in the locations and
improvements of public parks.
Broad, yet simple, and sublime in their
simplicity are nature's
best models.
Roads and paths are only convenient ways
for reaching such
creations. They should be practically
hidden, following the
shaded shore of a lake, the bank of a
stream, the foot or brow
of a hill or terrace, the border of a
lawn, meadow or forest, taking
advantage of natural opportunities, if
they, exist, or, when neces-
sary, creating opportunities which may
appear natural.
A park must be beautiful. Good drainage,
an abundance
of pure drinking water and shade are
absolutely necessary; for,
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek 163 |
|
164 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
during the hot months of July and August
the people will flee
from the city to the parks, sometimes
almost en masse: at least,
that is our experience in Youngstown, showing the great
need
of such accommodations.
But I cannot go into detail. The method
of beautifying pub-
lic parks cannot be prescribed by rule,
for the simple reason that
what would be very appropriate and
harmonious in one, would
be very inappropriate and inharmonious
in another. Principles,
good judgment and taste, and their
correct application in each
case must be sought for.
The advantages of public parks are many;
but the greatest
is their healthful, healing influence,
whether applied to the wearied
minds and bodies of those whose places
of daily life and toil are
surrounded or affected by monotonous,
heated, brick walls and
stone pavements, or to their soothing,
helpful effects upon weak,
nervous and unhappy invalids and
delicate children.
To maintain the health of the former,
and restore to health
the latter, are the paramount purposes
of parks. Cool, inviting
shades and clear, still, or whispering
waters; pure air, bright
sunshine, and pastoral scenery are not
only Nature's healing
balms for bodily and mental afflictions,
but they lead the appre-
ciative mind and heart gently on, step
by step, to the one great
lovable Truth.
Wishing to visit a large park, do not
try to see it all in one
day--reserve something for future
enjoyment, and save weary
feet. Select some secluded portion of it
for that day, and spend
the time there with friends, books or
innocent amusements. Music
and boating are appropriate pastimes.
Play with the children;
teach them the names and uses of
Nature's gifts about them;
point them to the trees, birds, herbage,
and flowers; tell them the
name and habits of each, and you will
have sown the seeds for
something ennobling in their hearts that
will never be forgotten.
There should be a walk and a talk with
friends or children before
the day is done, and the ladies should
join in the exercise.
There is an editorial in Garden and
Forest, written a number
of years ago, so apt in this connection
that I quote a portion of
it, as follows:
"It would be far better for our
health as a people, if the love
of exercise were more general, and it
would be better for our
intellectual and spiritual development,
if the love of Nature were
more general. The love of walking and
the love of Nature are
more intimately connected than most
persons realize. Only he
who goes abroad on foot can really learn
to know the beauties
of Nature, because only he lives, for
the time being with those
beauties, passing among them, not beside
them, and seeing the
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 165
smaller, as well as the greater, the
more intimate and secret as
well as those which are freely
displayed.
"To contemplate a beautiful
prospect from a veranda, or
to traverse a charming country in a
carriage, means much to
him who has eyes to see; but, to spend
an hour in the woods,
or to follow on foot the course of a
winding river, means vastly
more; and while a beautiful outlook from
one's home, or a chance
to drive and ride at will, are luxuries of the rich,
the foot-path
is free to the poorest."
Adopting the above quotation as part of
my argument, I con-
clude that the foot-path in the park
should be made as charming
as it can be. If so made and kept, it
will help to induce those
who ride and drive to take needful
exercise and recreation on
foot; and will be a luxury always open
to everyone. I will add
this caution, however, to those not
accustomed to extended ram-
bles, and hurry on to the conclusion: Never walk until
you become
weary; let your walks be short and slow
at first; increase their
length gradually each day or week, and
you will be surprised to
find how invigorating and enjoyable they are. Health
writers
tell us that Americans, and especially
American women, walk
too little. They also tell us that naturally women can
endure
more fatigue on foot than men. On a
long, wearisome journey
under equal circumstances, woman is the
invariable victor; she
has more tenacity of life, and more
powers of endurance as a
pedestrian.
Thus Nature teaches that she should
exercise those powers,
not to excess, but in moderation; and
the park by-ways, foot-
paths, and their surroundings, and her
natural love of the beau-
tiful, should induce her to take needful
walking exercise, espe-
cially when the reward is health, long
life, and the retention of
youth.
A little acquaintance with geology,
botany, and the birds, will
add greatly to the enjoyment of outdoor
exercise, whether walk-
ing, riding, or driving.
As to cultivating taste for beautifying
door-yards, much can
be accomplished by offering prizes, and
allowing all who wish
to do so to enter their yards in the
list for competition.
Education and agitation are necessary to
properly utilize and
beautify our public streets. If we can
create a taste for beautiful
door-yards, beautiful streets will
follow.
The planting and care of trees, and the
turf on public grounds,
should be confined to a competent city
forester and gardener,
and no one should be permitted to plant
trees or touch them on
public streets, or make or interfere
with public lawns or turf,
except by the forester and gardener's
direction and authority.
166 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Parks are necessarily under the charge
of public officials, and
I have heretofore, in a very general
way, indicated some ideals
that should govern them in their work.
If public parks are
properly designed, improved, and
maintained, the best of land-
scape and garden work will be exhibited,
and in addition to their
paramount functions, they will help to
educate the tastes and
desires of the people as to their home
grounds.
For beauty in parks, the park officials
must be looked to;
but, how to utilize a park is mainly a
lesson to be learned by
the people.
The park officials can help by
preventing clamorous noise
and excitement within the park limits.
Noise and excitement
are some of the very conditions in
crowded cities that public
parks are intended to alleviate. They
can provide necessary
buildings for shelter and refreshments,
tables in groves or other
suitable places, for meals in the open
air as well as grounds for
innocent amusements. They can prohibit
all money-making
schemes within the park borders. They
can, and should, pro-
vide music at times for the
entertainment of visitors; but, bear
in mind, always, that they seldom have
the money, especially in
small cities, to pay for everything
needful at once, and that it
takes long, long years of unremitting
toil and labor by somebody,
to secure the land, pay for, and
suitably improve it. Such work
is not for today only, but for the ages,
and must be done with
that end in view.
If thus we make our cities out of doors,
healthful, comfortable
and beautiful, city residents will live
more in the open air, to
their great benefit; they will learn to
go to public parks and open
spaces, not for excitement and unrest, but
for peace, quiet, and
rest--in a word, for recreation, that
is, to be recreated, so that
they may return to their homes new men,
and new women,
stronger, healthier and happier, and
better equipped for the per-
formance of life's duties.
In the years following the issue of his
book he learned
that it was frequently necessary to
appeal to the people
of Youngstown to protect the park
against those who in
their efforts to use it for commercial
ends would ruin it
for park purposes. His appeal for
vigilance won the
victory for the greater good of the
years to come, and
the plaudits of those who knew of his
ceaseless and un-
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek 167 |
|
168 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
selfish work of almost thirty years
that this remarkable
achievement might live to bless the
generations yet to be.
That his life-work was appreciated is
further attested
by the tributes called forth at the
time of his death,
December 3, 1919.
On the day following the Youngstown Vindicator
published the following editorial:
VOLNEY ROGERS
Volney Rogers, who died yesterday in
Canon City, Colorado,
where he had gone on account of failing
health, will be justly
remembered in Youngstown longer than any
other man of his
generation, because he rendered a
greater service to this com-
munity than any other man of his time.
Born in Columbiana County he came to
Youngstown, an
educated lawyer, to practice his
profession, and while waiting as
most lawyers must, for business to come
to him, lover of nature
that he was, he found health and
happiness in long walks through
Mill Creek Valley. Wild and remote it
then was, but full of
beauty and charm for the young man. In
these walks he became
so impressed with the possibilities of
making a park of the pic-
turesque ravine, and with the necessity,
soon to come for such a
breathing-place for the growing city,
that more than thirty years
ago he formed the purpose of procuring
at least a part of it for
the public, and went actively to work to
obtain it.
Much of what is now the park was waste
land and easily
obtainable, but a large part of it was
commercially valuable,
chiefly for stone quarries, the working
of which involved the
destruction for park purposes of much
more land than was ac-
tually so used. It was apparent, even
then, that if the natural
beauty and usefulness of the gorge were
to be preserved it must
be promptly purchased. But no money was
available and there
was no public sentiment in favor of such
a purchase, few men
having the vision to see, as Mr. Rogers
saw, the community
value of such a park in future years.
Most men without fortune, as Mr. Rogers
was, would have
thought it impossible to interest the
public in such an enterprise
and would have turned away to their personal pursuits,
but with
the enthusiasm of youth and inspired by
a high purpose, he
commenced, almost alone, an agitation
for the creating of an
appreciation of the necessity for such a
park and the unsurpassed
possibilities which thus lay at our
door, created by nature for
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 169
the purpose. He talked the subject and
he wrote of it, enlisting
here the interest of one man and there
that of another, until
there gradually gathered about him a
group of men, enthusiastic
and influential, who pressed the project to solution.
But Mr.
Rogers continued to be so certainly the
animating spirit of the
movement through all the years, that it
must be said that to
his efforts it is, that this community
owes the possession of our
present beautiful Mill Creek Park--as
beautiful a city park, it is
no exaggeration to say, as there is in
the country.
But the acquiring of the property in the
wild gorge did not
make a park of it, and the service of
Mr. Rogers in developing
it into the place of beauty which it now
is, was quite as unusual
and certainly as valuable as that which
he rendered in acquiring
the land. He sought to preserve the
natural beauties of the place.
But not content with this, he entered
upon extensive studies
in landscape architecture and gardening,
so that he might
be able competently to judge of plans
for future development.
Thus the park and its welfare became the
passion of Mr. Rogers'
later years, and the adoption of the
plan for carrying a sewer
through, it, to the detriment, as he
believed it would prove to be,
of the fine forest trees and of the
springs of pure water, was a
great grief to him.
Rarely has a man given himself to a
public service as Mr.
Rogers gave himself to the care and
development of this beau-
tiful park for many years. He sacrificed
his time and money
and professional opportunities to it,
finding his reward wholly
in the health and happiness and delight
which is brought into
the lives of countless thousands every
year. It was first in his
thoughts always, to such an extent, that
in his last days his
chief anxiety was from the fear that it
might pass into the custody
of unsympathetic and uninformed trustees
who from lack of ap-
preciation of its practical and esthetic
community uses would
permit it to fall into neglect or decay.
It is impossible, however,
to think that this community, fully
realizing, as it does, that Mill
Creek Park is its most priceless
possession, now and for all
time to come, can fail to preserve it by
carrying forward its
development and care through the future
years, in a manner
worthy of the purposes and aims of its
discoverer and creator
now gone from us.
It has been suggested that the name of
the park be changed
from Mill Creek, to Rogers Park and
sometime since it was pro-
posed that a statue or fountain or other
appropriate memorial
be erected in the park to Mr. Rogers,
while he lived and could
know of it, in token of our gratitude
for the service which
170 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
he rendered to us all, but war
activities diverted attention and
nothing was done.
Now, however, this community debt has
fallen definitely due,
and it is to be hoped that something of
the kind will be done
to give an expression, at once to the
esteem in which we hold
the service of this devoted man and also
as an enduring ex-
pression of the desire and purpose of
this community that the
ideas and ideals of Mr. Rogers, of which
we have such a full
expression, should rule in the future
care and development of
the park.
If the consent of relatives can be
procured, how fitting it
would be if the body of Mr. Rogers could
be buried in the
beautiful park which he created for
us--on some sunny slope
where the first flowers and birds of
spring would come--for
unless our hopes and dreams be all in
vain it is to this scene
of his great earthly happiness and
achievement that the spirit
of the departed will oftenest return.
On December 5 the Youngstown Telegram
said
editorially:
A FITTING MEMORIAL
To speak a good word in memory of the
late Volney Rogers
is almost unnecessary, much as the
tribute is deserved. Probably
there is no one in Youngstown who does
not know what the
city and its individuals alike owe him,
for his thirty years' work
in the interests of the great Mill Creek
Park if for no other
reason. Eulogies, therefore, would be be
merely trite.
In the instance of Mr. Rogers, the unusual
happened when
his work was recognized and a memorial
planned in his honor
even before his death. It is a work that
has not been completed
yet, but its success was long ago
assured.
Yet there is another form of memorial
that might be erected
to Mr. Rogers that would be more fitting
even than one of brass
or stone. It will cost nothing, but will
be worth more than a
million-dollar arch or statue. We refer
to the preservation of
Mill Creek Park.
Volney Rogers might have made this place
a great personal
asset. Realizing its possibilities first
he might have capitalized
these. Instead he worked, almost alone,
to dedicate this great
outdoor place to the people of
Youngstown. For many years
past his work has been threatened.
Just now a sewer is being driven through
the park with little
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 171
regard to saving the beauty of the
place. Hungry real estate
dealers are trying to capitalize it.
There is a growing belief that
the park was meant as a dumping-place
for ashes, tin cans and
garbage and only unceasing vigilance can
prevent this desecra-
tion. To exercise this vigilance is the
best payment we could
make Volney Rogers--public benefactor.
In the issue of the Telegram of
December 4 appeared
the informing and tender news tribute from
which we
quote as follows:
Volney Rogers, founder of Mill Creek
Park, and whom the
city had been planning to honor with a
memorial while he still
lived, died in Canon City, Colorado,
Thursday morning. A
message announcing his death was
received by his brother, Bruce
Rogers, Thursday afternoon.
Mr. Rogers left Youngstown last February
to tour the western
national parks and wonder places until
peace was declared in
Europe, after which he planned to spend
several years in traveling
to the unfrequented parts of the world.
Shortly after reaching
Canon City he was taken ill with
influenza which left him in a
somewhat weakened condition. On a trip
to the Royal Gorge,
soon afterward, he was exposed for some
time to the rigors
of a severe storm and contracted
a cold which further undermined
his health. From then up to the time of
his death his health
failed rapidly. Some weeks ago, his
brother, Dr. Lycurgus Rog-
ers of Negley, was called to attend him
and was with him until
the end came.
An idea of the methodical character of
the man is indicated
in the last letter he wrote to his
brother, and which was received
the same day the message came announcing
his death. In the
letter he wrote: "Unless there is
some change you will soon have
a brother to bury--better go to Orr's
undertaking establishment
and learn what should be done at this
end of the line. When I
am finished write to Curg (Lycurgus, the
brother who was
with him) what he should do. This is a
sad message to send,
but I have thought it best for you to
know everything. I don't
want any of you to worry about me. We
all have to go some
time."
Volney Rogers was born* near East
Palestine on a farm which
was bought by his grandfather who
personally obtained the grant
by walking to the state capital, then at
Chillicothe, and bargaining
for it with the government officials.
The farm is still owned by
* Date of birth, December 1, 1846.
172 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
a member of the family. The village of
Rogers is named after
a branch of the family.
After attending the county grade and
high schools he taught
for a time, studying telegraphy in the
meantime. As telegrapher
Mr. Rogers was employed during the
construction of a telegraph
line on the old turnpike from Pittsburgh
to Baltimore. When
that work was completed he was given the
office of operator
for the State Legislature at the
Pennsylvania capitol building
in Harrisburg. Four years as telegraph
operator in Waynesboro
followed, during which Mr. Rogers took
up the study of law. He
returned to Ohio to complete his studies
under his brother Disney,
was admitted to the bar, and opened an
office in the old Fowler-
Stambaugh block. As Youngstown city
solicitor he codified the
city ordinances.
It was in 1890 that he saw the
possibilities of developing
the Mill Creek valley into a public
park. Sawmills had been
established on both sides of the gorge
and were rapidly denuding
the hills of timber when Mr. Rogers
obtained options on much
of the property, prepared a,bill known
as the "Township Park
Improvement Law," obtained the
legislation, and then, when he
had attained his objective, turned the
whole proposition over to
the city at actual cost.
With the assistance of his brother,
Bruce, who has always
been close to him in park matters,
Volney Rogers then began the
improvement of the valley and carried on
the work which caused
Mill Creek Park to be recognized as one
of the finest scenic parks
in America.
The first contest in connection, with
the park came when the
city proposed to utilize the Mill Creek
basin for a water supply.
Volney and Bruce Rogers made marks on
the trees and build-
ings in the park showing where the
proposed water-line would
reach, and this immediately won
widespread sentiment against and
defeated the move. Fearing a sewer
through the park would
spoil the springs and otherwise cause
damages, and taking the
position that it could be placed outside
the park, Mr. Rogers
fought this project through all the
courts. His concern about
the welfare of the park was the
outstanding characteristic of his
life. Through all the years he gave his
services in a legal ca-
pacity without remuneration, often
neglecting his own practice
to devote his attention to park affairs.
For many years he fed the birds that
came to his home in
the park, and established a friendship
with the wild creatures
that gave him the greatest pleasure. Mr.
Rogers was a member
of the American Civic Association and
took an active part in
the campaign to save Niagara Falls from
water power companies
that threatened the beauty of the natural
wonder some years ago.
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 173
Mr. Rogers was the author of a history
of Mill Creek Park,
an authority on park affairs whose
advice was sought by experts
in all parts of the country, and a nature student who
took delight
in giving others the benefit of his
knowledge and experience. He
was a trustee of Tod Memorial cemetery
and was a member of
the First Presbyterian church.
The following sisters and brothers
survive: Miss Minnie J.
Randall, Negley; Atty. Dio Rogers,
Steubenville; Dr. Lycurgus
Rogers, Negley; Bruce Rogers,
Youngstown; Dr. Z. L. Rogers,
East Palestine, and John Rogers of
Poland. The late Judge Dis-
ney Rogers was a brother.
The body will be brought to Youngstown
for burial.
Dozens of messages of regret over the
death of Volney Rog-
ers, Wednesday, were sent to Secretary
Fred A. La Belle of the
Chamber of Commerce and members of the
Volney Rogers me-
morial committee, following receipt of
the news in this city.
Recently representatives of the Chamber
of Commerce re-
turned from Chicago where the final clay
model from which the
bronze statue of Rogers will be cast had
been prepared by Sculp-
tor Frederick Hibbard, as shown in the
accompanying photograph.
The statue proper will be ten feet in
height and will be
mounted on a base of polished granite
which will give a total
height of 18 feet. It is expected that
the statue will be unveiled
probably next April and changes in the
driveway and grading
to conform with the plans of the
monument are under way under
the direction of the Mill Creek park
commission.
Volney Rogers was buried in Tod'
Memorial Cemetery, at
his request by the side of his brother
Judge Disney Rogers with
whom he was associated in the practice
of the law many years.
As a fitting conclusion to this series
of tributes we
include the following from a recent
appreciation by Ed-
ward Thomas:
In the park there is a monument to a
modest lawyer--yes,
there are such! And if ever a man
deserved a monument, it is
Volney Rogers. He is known as the father
of Mill Creek Park.
It was he who first realized the value
of the tract to the com-
munity. And it was he who fought a long
and eventually a suc-
cessful fight, overcoming the greatest
of all obstacles--the apathy
of the people. Because of his foresight
and persistence and de-
termination, Mill Creek Park is what it
is today, instead of being
a dump for rubbish and tin cans. I wish
that every Ohio city
had a Volney Rogers--and a Mill Creek
Park!
174
Ohio Arch, and Hist. Society Publications
INTRODUCTION TO DEDICATION
OF MILL CREEK SPRING
Volney Rogers came to Youngstown in
1871 as a
young lawyer and often walked up the
Mill Creek
stream. In 1890, he rode on horseback
from the mouth
of the stream where it enters the
Mahoning River to
the present falls at Lanterman's Mill.
He had to ride
most of the way in the bed of the river
and dodge the
overhanging branches. On that ride the
vision came
to him of preserving this beautiful
ravine as a perpetual
park for Youngstown. That night he
wrote Bruce
Rogers saying that he would attend to
the legal end,
the securing of options, etc., if his
brother would come
to Youngstown to help put the idea
over. It was a year
later before Bruce Rogers could give up
his former
work, but in 1891 both brothers were
united to pull to-
gether as a team to secure this dream
for Youngstown.
Thereafter for twenty-seven years,
Volney Rogers
looked after the legal and the
financial end of the ven-
ture, while Bruce Rogers was in charge
of the develop-
ments.
The location of the source of Mill
Creek is largely
the work of the Youngstown Chapter of
the American
Nature-Study Club led by its president,
Bruce Rogers.
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 175
DEDICATION OF MILL CREEK SPRING
In the Youngstown Vindicator of
October 1, 1933,
appeared an interesting illustrated
news story of the dis-
covery of the source of Mill Creek
which flows through
the gorge in Youngstown, now included
in Mill Creek
Park, unsurpassed in natural beauty and
appropriate
and artistic development. A prominent
feature of the
illustration was the home of William N.
Cope, back of
which is located the spring from which
Mill Creek issues.
This announcement carries also an
account of the pro-
gram for dedication of the spring from
which we quote
as follows:
A spring on the William Cope farm about
three miles south
of Columbiana, will receive waters from
the melting snows of
Mount Rainier, the Suwanee River, the
Pacific Ocean, Indian
River and Crater Lake, next Saturday, in
token of the spring
being the source of Mill Creek -- which
in its course to the
Mahoning River runs through one of the
most beautiful scenic
parks in America
As the water from the Suwanee and these
other distant places
mingles with the cool spring-water and
runs around crocks of
cream and milk and butter in the
spring-house and then down the
front yard lane to a pool where horses
and cows stop to refresh
themselves on warm summer days, a great
crowd of nature
lovers will pause in reverence.
Led by the Youngstown Chapter of the
American Nature-
Study Club, a host of prominent local
folks will make a pilgrim-
age on that day, not only to the spring
where Mill Creek begins,
but to the boyhood home of the late
Volney Rogers and Bruce
Rogers, co-founders of Mill Creek Park.
A program will be held at the Rogers
homestead, east of
Rogers. Bruce Rogers will tell boyhood
recollections and stories
of the Rogers home and of Volney Rogers,
who spent a con-
siderable portion of his life building a
park for the city of
Youngstown.
Following this, a caravan of autos will
leave for the spring
on the Cope farm, where a short
celebration will be held. C. B.
Galbreath, state historian and secretary
of the Ohio Archaeological
and Historical Society, will be the
principal speaker.
176 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
At the spring, the bottles containing
the waters from distant
lakes, rivers and oceans will be
emptied, christening the cool
spring waters.
The Nature Club spent some time
procuring the water. One
bottle is filled with the cold water
from the Bay of Fundy off
Nova Scotia; others with the warm water
of the Suwanee; the
melted water from a glacier on the
flanks of Mount Rainier;
from Puget Sound and the Pacific; Crater
Lake and Indian
River--all famed in story and legend.
But let us follow these waters as they
flow down Mill Creek
from the Cope farm They will go east
west, north and south in
their meanderings through cow and sheep
pastures and along
fertile cultivated fields They will flow
in a question mark around
Columbiana and up north through Mahoning
County until they
enter the gorge of Mill Creek above Lake
Newport.
MEANDERING COURSE.
Entering Lake Newport the waters will
find different fish
from the alligators which infest the
Suwanee or the holy mackerels
of the Bay of Fundy. Before reaching the
Mahoning River, the
waters will pass through two more lakes,
Cohasset and Glacier.
And what a surprise the clean waters of
Crater Lake and
Indian River will have when they enter
the Mahoning. They'll
mingle with sewage and mill acids that
few waters ever have the
misfortune to come in contact with. And
they'll be lucky if they
escape without being taken in by some
mill and shot out to cool
red hot bars--and disappear in steam.
Some of the waters will run the gantlet
of the cities along the
Valley through New Castle, Beaver Falls
and to the Ohio River
at Rochester. There, they will mingle
with waters from Pitts-
burgh and the upper reaches of the Ohio
and then flow on over
dam after dam by Cincinnati and on to
Cairo to join with the
mighty waters of the Mississippi.
But the crowd at the spring will have
departed long before
the water does all this traveling, and
let's stop awhile and see
what they plan at the spring and the
Rogers homestead.
THE CARAVAN ROUTE.
In the first place, many would like to
know how to get to the
Rogers homestead. The caravan will leave
the Reuben McMillan
Free Library at 1 p. m. It will go to
North Lima and past Pine
Lake and take the second paved highway
to the left, the Colum-
biana-Waterford Road. Passing through
New Waterford, the
caravan will go straight through Peace
Valley, turning right after
178 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
going by the lake. Then after passing
the first crossroads, it will
take the right road at the forks which
is located on the farm of
Frank Bye. One must drive through his
farm to reach the
Rogers homestead.
After the short program of tribute at
the homestead the
caravan will go to Rogers, turn right
through East Fairfield to
Middleton and turn left and after about
two miles cross an over-
head bridge above a trolley. A mile
further a long lane leads off
to the left to the Cope homestead.
The program at the spring will include a
speech by Paul
Kuegle telling of his boyhood much of
which was spent playing
along Mill Creek. Kuegle also will
orient the position and flow
of the creek in the minds of listeners.
Bruce Rogers will tell how the spring,
the source of Mill
Creek, was located. He also will read a
dedicatory poem which
he has written. Christening of the
spring by the foreign waters
will follow.
Mr. Cope, the owner of the place, will
present F. E. Hughes,
superintendent of Mill Creek Park, with
a vial of water from
the spring. Charles Leedy will introduce
the principal speaker.
Saturday, October 7, 1933, dawned fair
and the tem-
perature was delightful. At 1 o'clock
in the afternoon
the caravan of automobiles set out from
Youngstown
according to program and proceeded by
the route de-
scribed to the Rogers homestead. As the
party moved
southward the country became more
broken and pictur-
esque. One can understand why a family
of sturdy
children who grew up to manhood and
womanhood in
association with this rugged and
beautiful country be-
came nature lovers and in after years
found pleasure in
The hills
Rock-ribbed and ancient as the sun; the
vales
Stretching in pensive quietness between;
The venerable woods,--
And in after years longed for a return
of the scenes
of childhood, the wide and open sky,
rippling rills and
180 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
waterfalls, the majesty and melody of
Nature that can
measurably be restored in such a realm
as Mill Creek
Park.
At the Rogers homestead was found a
large barn
more than one hundred years old, a
sturdy stone farm-
house dating back from the year 1826,
when it was built
to replace a log structure which had
been blown down
in a terrific storm. The stone
farmhouse with its mas-
sive walls unbroken bids defiance to the
elements for at
least another century.
Here Bruce Rogers led the program in
interesting
reminiscences of the olden time after
which the "cara-
van" moved on to the village of
Rogers north through
the villages of East Fairfield and
Middleton, to the farm-
house of William N. Cope which was
found to be
neither "little" nor
"old" but delightfully modern and
in every way a fitting source for the
stream which has
done so much to make the great Mill
Creek Park.
The program of the afternoon opened
with an ad-
dress on "A Quest for the
Spring" and "A Poem on the
Christening" by Bruce Rogers, who
spoke as follows:
The quest for the headwaters of Mill
Creek has been pursued
somewhat fitfully for a long time. Some
thirty years ago my
brother Volney, in high top-boots, one
winter's day, in a deep
snow sought it from the river's mouth at
the Mahoning all the
way to this locality, but his findings
were not conclusive. Some
twelve years ago Mr. John H. Chase and
his daughter Catherine,
in a series of walks, covered the same
ground with the same
result. It now being determined that
the spring was to be found
near this place, a month ago Mr. Chase
and Mr. Paul Kuegle
undertook to locate it by following the
trail of the low ground,
passing almost entirely around the spot
where we are standing.
A few weeks ago Mr. Chase took me to
see a pool just west of
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 181
the Centralized School as a possible
head, but we were not satis-
fied; and then together we began a
two-day's methodical search,
ending in the discovering of this spring
here on the farm of
Mr. William N. Cope.
There are several factors entering into
the final determina-
tion of what constitutes the source of a
stream. The relative
size of two streams at their confluence,
the constancy of their
flow, and the general direction and
extent of their course, all
must be considered. The ease with which
this fine spring passes
all tests, places it at the headwaters,
and as the chief source of
Mill Creek, and determines that all
competitors are simply lateral
branches or tributaries in the
ramifications of Mill Creek. This
is now so set down in the files of the
Ohio Archaeological and
Historical Society.
A POEM ON THE CHRISTENING
ADAPTED FROM THE SONG OF HIAWATHA.
In the time of the great famine,
Failed the springs in all the forests;
Failed the waters in the meadows.
Till the weary people perished.
Then came walking thru' the region,
Gitche Manito, the mighty.
In His footsteps sprang the rivers;
Where He trod, the waters, rising,
Fed the hungry, famished people.
Then He stooped, and with His finger
Traced for them their winding pathway;
Traced He then the creek we honor,
Saying to it, run in this way;
Feed the forests and the meadows;
Leap the frowning, lofty ledges;
Water all the lovely valleys,
Till you sleep in the Mahoning.
In the heart of all the Nations;
In the name of the Great Spirit,
Gitche Manito, the mighty
Come we all to do thee honor;
Now to christen thee COHASSET.
182 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
The following beautiful
"Christening of the Spring,"
a poem in prose, written by Miss Rachel
Stewart, was
then delivered by the author as
follows:
Since the beginning of time, rivers have
been a symbol of
the yearning for far places that marks
the stay-at-home dreamer
and the traveler alike. The child who
says, "Where does the
river go?" is akin to the explorers
who have followed rivers up
to their sources and down to their
mouths, till no land anywhere
remains undiscovered. Exploration,
conquest, colonization, com-
merce, the shining thread of rivers runs
through them all. And
as we view broad valleys and narrow
canyons we cannot fail to
pay tribute to rivers as sculptors.
Today we gather to dedicate the very
little river which has its
source at our feet, in loving gratitude
for its service to us in
carving our beautiful park. We bring as
a gift, waters from the
four corners of the land as a foretaste
of those far places where
it will mingle with the rivers from
which these waters come.
The Bay of Fundy, a glacier on the
slopes of Mt. Rainier, Puget
Sound, the song-famed Suwanee River,
Indian River in Florida,
the Great Salt Lake and the River Jordan
all are here. As we
send them on their way, let us each one
add in our hearts the
names of those other rivers which we
know and love, or love even
though unknown. St. Lawrence, Yukon,
Juniata, Greenbriar and
many, many more.
So little river, very dear little river,
as you start on your long
journey from this green valley to join
the waters of the world,
carry these alien drops with you to the
ocean which is the final
destination of all rivers. Visit strange
shores which we long to
see, mingle with rivers which we long to
explore, do our adven-
turing for us.
Mr. William N. Cope, owner of the farm
in the yard
of which the spring is located, then
spoke as follows:
"As owner of the spring at the head
waters of Mill Creek,
present to you, Sir, as Superintendent
of the Park, a vial of wate
from this spring as a memorial of our
dedication on October 7
1933."
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek 183 |
|
184 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Mr. F. Hughes, superintendent of Mill
Creek Park,
responded as follows:
"As superintendent of the Park
along the lower waters of
Mill Creek, I am glad to have this token
from the birthplace of
the stream we love so dearly."
Paul Kuegle delivered an address and
furnished the
following "Orientation" and
"How to Get to the
Spring":
ORIENTATION
Mill Creek rises along a ridge two and
one-half miles south
of Columbiana, Ohio; and flows northward
seventeen and one-
half miles (air line) to its mouth at
the Mahoning River.
The elevation of the spring at the Wm.
N. Cope farm is
1,175 feet and Mill Creek falls 345 feet
to the Mahoning River.
The creek drains a water shed area of
approximately seventy-nine
square miles.
HOW TO GET THERE
From Columbiana take the Fairfield Road
southward and
bear right on a narrow concrete road at
a fork about three-fourths
of a mile south of the Pennsylvania
Railroad tracks. Turn left
at Fairfield Township Centralized School.
Go a quarter of a
mile to a gate on the right. A lane
leads from the gate to Mr.
Wm. N. Cope's homestead, behind which is
the spring
One hundred yards before reaching the
above-mentioned
crossroad and again one hundred yards
after turning east you
will cross a tiny stream, which is Mill
Creek.
Mr. Charles A. Leedy, vice-president of
the Youngs-
town Chapter of the American
Nature-Study Club and
representative of the Youngstown Telegram
introduced
Mr. C. B. Galbreath, secretary and
editor of The Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society, who spoke
as follows:
Members of the Youngstown Chapter of
the American
Nature-Study Club and Friends:
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 185
When invited to have a part in these
exercises by our good
friend, Bruce Rogers, I could not see
how in the midst of a very
busy period of my work, I could come;
but when I realized that
this spring which is to be crowned today
is in my home township
near the farm on which I was born and
the scenes of my child-
hood that grow ever dearer with
advancing years; and recalled
the reminiscent lesson in the old
McGuffey Readers
"How dear to my heart are the
scenes of my childhood
When fond recollection presents them to
view;"
And that other lesson, "The Sailor
Boy"--
"He dreamed of his home, of his
dear native bowers,
Of pleasures that waited on life's merry
morn,
While memory each scene gaily covered
with flowers
And restored every rose but secreted the
thorn"
When, as I say, these recollections
thronged upon me I simply
could not refuse the kind invitation
sent me.
I wish first of all to congratulate
those responsible for this
celebration. The city of Youngstown and
those interested in her
parks are to be congratulated upon the
splendid service that they
have rendered. From this Mill Creek
Spring issued the waters
that helped to make the site of
beautiful Mill Creek Park that has
carried the fame of the city and the
stream and the Rogers broth-
ers throughout our entire country.
The city, it is true, has other parks
less extensive but greatly
to her credit. She has schools that are
far-famed; churches, rep-
resenting many denominations; her public
library, rendering an
excellent service, and her beautiful art
gallery in which our late
friend, Joseph Butler, was so deeply and
generously interested.
These, with beautiful Mill Creek Park,
speak eloquently of the
expenditure of effort and wealth, not
only by the distinguished
citizens of Youngstown but by the city
itself. We sometimes think
of that city with its great
manufacturies of steel and iron, working
in prosperous times by night and day,
and increasing by leaps and
bounds in population and wealth, as a
city devoted wholly to the
making of money. We should not forget,
however, that institutions
for the comfort, happiness, instruction,
innocent recreation and
moral advancement, which are developed
without special refer-
ence to returns in money, add to the wealth of the
community in
dollars and cents. Take from any city
its schools, its churches, its
public libraries, its art galleries, its
parks and institutions of
elevating and healthful recreation, and
the property of that city,
regardless of its industrial
institutions, would rapidly decline.
The civic pride of the city of
Youngstown that has resulted in this
186 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
scenic park, unsurpassed in America, has
doubtless brought to the
city, not only in comfort and
satisfaction, but in dollars and cents,
all that it has cost. Well may those who
are devoted to such
unselfish civil service rejoice in their
work. It is helpful, it is
essential to the progress of
civilization. Its influence like the flow
of the waters of this spring is
perennial. Its beneficence is un-
failing. It is a dedication to things
that are not dead, that do
not die.
You will now pardon another personal
reference. When the
great World War was absorbing the
attention and the energies
of our nation, a poem was written by
Colonel John McCrae en-
titled "In Flanders' Fields."
That was, in my humble opinion, the
greatest lyric called forth by the World
War, written by the
soldier spirit who died and lies buried
in Flanders Field. I had
the temerity to attempt an answer to
those heroic lines with no
thought at the time of publication. It
later reached the public
press, found its way into school text
books and anthologies, and
still retains evidently some interest as
a companion piece of the
immortal lines of Colonel McCrae.
Due to this circumstance the friend who
invited me to this
delightful occasion strongly suggested
that I present my message
in verse. This
I have undertaken to do:
MILL CREEK SPRING
"Tell us if you can remember
Where your happy life began,
When at first from some high mountain
Like a silver thread you ran."
So we asked the "Gentle
River,"
Book in hand in smiling row,
As we read at school in concert
In the happy long ago.
But not from the towering mountain
Came the spring we crown today
Born amid the lordly forest
Silently it fled away.
In the dim primeval forest
Shadows fell incessantly
From the hickory and the walnut,
Sturdy oak and tulip-tree.
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 187
In the resurrecting springtime,
Here the fern unfurled its plume;
Here hepatica triloba
Early rose to bud and bloom.
Here sweet williams in profusion
Shed their redolence in air;
And anemone, the "windflower"
Spread its petals everywhere.
Where this limpid brook meandered
Into dales with dew-drops wet
Bloomed the yellow dandelion,
Trillium and violet.
In the long, long days of summer
Often came the drone of bees
As they gathered fragrant honey
From the bloom of tulip-trees.
But the hours so long and lonely,
Were relieved by other sound,
Scream of hawk and song of wood-thrush
Broke the solitude profound.
And when twilight into darkness
Deepened with its mystic thrill,
Lone and wierd among the shadows
Shrilly called the whippoorwill.
In the crisp and frosty autumn,
When the trees of leaves were bare,
From a tree-top in the moonlight
Hoot of horn-owl shook the air.
Lapsed the years through light and
shadow,
Storm and sunshine, rain and snow;
Still the waters of this fountain
Rose in never-failing flow.
Denizens from out the forest
Frequented its sedgy brink,
Timid quail and frisky squirrel
Often came to bathe and drink.
188 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Hither came the Indian hunter
With rude ax and supple bow,
Looked in silence on his image
Mirrored in the pool below.
Coyly came the Indian maiden,
And he clasped her nut-brown hand,
As they told the same old story,
In this ancient forest land.
O'er the vast Atlantic waters
Came a crew in after years
Came the enterprising paleface,
Came the sturdy pioneers.
Stroke of ax and crack of rifle
Echoed through the ancient wood;
Falling oak with crash of thunder
Shook the forest brotherhood.
Rose the cabin in the clearing,
And the clearing wider grew,
As the region took on aspect
Something wonderful and new.
Well our fathers named it Fairfield,
For its fields are passing fair;
Beautiful its summer meadows
With their fragrance sweet and rare.
As of old this crystal fountain
Issued from its faithful source;
As of old through fertile meadows
Took its unobtrusive course,
Till its channel widened, deepened,
Till it gathered tribute streams,
Till it neared an evoluting
City of industrial dreams;
Through a gorge in ampler volume
Cut its way by rocky walls,
O'er the steep poured laughing waters
In its vocal waterfalls.
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 189
On its way to the Mahoning
Then it fled with rapid glide
Through the Beaver, the Ohio,
On to Gulf, and ocean side.
See the making of a city,
Hear the thund'rous beat and clang;
See the skeletons of iron,
Hear the rattle and the bang.
See the finished shops and forges,
Hear the glowing furnace roar;
From the fire and smoke mechanic
See the lusty city soar.
In the days of dire depression,
Fortune fair, at times may wane;
But our city brave of spirit
Phoenix-like will rise again.
Phoenix-like from rust and ashes,
It will wing its onward flight
From the realms of dark depression
To new vantage-grounds of light.
Youngstown! enterprising city,
Young in spirit, young in name
With the beauteous park of Mill Creek
In her iron crown of fame!
In the wooded glens and valleys
Of the stream that issues here,
Nature brought attractive changes
Every season of the year.
Till a group of nature lovers
Sought her beauties to conserve,
Added graceful, sparkling lakelets,
Roads and trails in many a curve.
Citizens and nature lovers
Well may meet in happy band
And applaud this scenic triumph,
Unsurpassed in all the land.
190 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications |
|
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 191
Honor to the Rogers brothers
And their aids, whose spirit fine,
Has bequeathed their Iron City
Gift of beauty--civic shrine.
They will keep their sacred treasure
Orderly and fair and free
For the generation present
And the millions yet to be.
Joyously, O Spring, we crown you
Place these asters on your brow;
May your waters flow forever
Clear and sweet and pure as now.
The Youngstown Telegram in
describing the dedica-
tion of the spring concluded as
follows:
"The speaker praised Mill Creek
Park as one of the country's
most justly famed recreation and beauty
reservations. Mr. Gal-
breath voiced a great part of the
discourse in original verse, at
the conclusion of which Miss Mildred
Cope placed a bouquet of
flowers at the edge of the spring."
Mr. John H. Chase, to whom we are under
obliga-
tions for copies of the addresses of
this program closed
it as follows:
Maude Adams when playing Peter Pan used
to ask her
audience if they believed in fairies,
and they always answered yes.
Our Nature Club has studied the body of
nature through
geology, botany, ornithology and
forestry; but we also believe in
fairies, and today we have paid homage
to the spirit of Nature.
We could only do this through great
souls like Mr. Galbreath,
Mr. Kuegle, Miss Stewart, Mr. Cope, Mr.
Hughes, Mr. Leedy
and Mr. Rogers.
One and all we thank you.
192 Ohio Arch. and Hist.
Society Publications
INFORMATION ABOUT MILL CREEK PARK
Establishment of Mill Creek Park--
Mill Creek Park was established as a
public park by an act
of the State Legislature and a vote of
the people of Youngs-
town Township in the year of 1891.
Source of Mill Creek--
About 20 miles south of Youngstown in
Columbiana County
Area--
Mill Creek Park contains a total of 1375
acres; extending
along the Mill Creek Valley from the
Boardman-Canfield
Road to the mouth of Mill Creek at
Mahoning Avenue.
Administration--
Mill Creek Park is controlled by a Board
of Park Commis-
sioners appointed by the Common Pleas
Judges of Mahoning
County. The Commissioners are appointed
for a period of
three years, one commissioner being
appointed each year.
The present commissioners are Walter C.
Stitt, C. S. Robin-
son, Dr. Hugh D. Morgan. The
Commissioners appoint a
park superintendent, who is responsible
for all park activities
of the commission. The park engineer has
charge of new
developments and construction and the
director of recreation
has charge of the recreational
activities. F. E. Hughes is
Park superintendent, O. E. Jones is Park
clerk, Clement
Beard is Park engineer and Albert E.
Davies is director of
Recreation.
Funds--
The funds used in the maintenance,
improvements, operation
and extension of Mill Creek Park are
obtained by direct
taxation on the property of the Park
District. The boundary
lines of this Park District correspond
with the old Youngs-
town Township lines.
PARK LAKES
Lake Cohasset--
Built in 1896 and 1897.
The dam was designed by E. Sherman
Gould.
Height of dam is 23 feet.
Spillway of dam is 147 feet.
Area of Lake is 27 acres.
Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill
Creek 193
Lake Glacier--
Built in 1904 and 1905.
The dam was designed by E. Sherman
Gould.
Height of dam is 18 feet.
Spillway of dam is 160 feet.
Area of dam is 18 feet.
Area about 42 acres.
Lake Newport--
Built in 1928.
The dam was designed by the Park
Engineer and was con-
structed by the Porterfield-Binger
Construction Company.
Height of dam is 20 feet.
Spillway of dam is 130 feet.
Area of lake about 100 acres, 5 acres of
islands.
Lily Pond--
Built about 1896.
Area about 4 acres.
MILL CREEK PAVILIONS
Slippery Rock Pavilion--
Built about 1910
Accommodations: Kitchen with stove.
Tables for about 150 people.
Reservations made at park office.
No charge for its use.
Pioneer Pavilion--
Built for a woolen factory by James
Eaton in 1821. It was
was later used for a storeroom in
connection with a charcoal
furnace nearby built by Daniel Eaton.
The outer walls of
the pavilion are as left by the
builders. The inside of the
building was remodeled in 1893.
Accommodations:
Kitchen with stove.
Dance floor will accommodate about go
people.
Reservations made at Park Office.
Charges: $ 8.00--1:00 P. M. to 6:00 P.
M.
$12.00--10:00 A. M. to 6:00 P. M.
$12:00-- 6:00 P. M. to 1:00 A. M.
$16.00-- 2:00 P. M. to 1:00 A. M.
$20.00--10:00
A. M. to 1:00 A. M.
Bear's Den.
Vol. XLIII--13
194 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications
Chestnut Hill Pavilion--
Built in 1922 and 1923.
Architect-- Barton E. Brooke.
Accommodations: Grill for cooking.
Tables for about 100 people.
Reservations at park office.
No charge for its use.
Bear's Den Shelter--
Built in Fall of 1931.
Accommodations: Grill for cooking.
Tables for about 50 people.
Reservations at park office.
Available year around.
Volney Rogers Monument--
Year erected--Spring of 1921.
Sculptor -- Frederick C. Hibbard.
Donated -- School children of
Youngstown. Movement
sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce.
Reason for Monument--It was due to the
foresight and
untiring efforts of Volney Rogers that
Mill Creek Park was
purchased and preserved as a natural
park for the public.
Mr. Rogers served as a park commissioner
from 1891 up to
the time of his death, 1919.
Volney Rogers Field--
Built in 1921.
Contains:
Children's Playground open from 9:00 A.
M. to dark.
Eight tennis courts open from 6:00 A.M
to 11 P. M.
Eight horseshoe courts.
Six playground ball diamonds.
One football gridiron.
One shelter house.
Golf Course--27 Holes--
Location: South of the Shields Road on
the west side of
Mill Creek.
Designed and built by Donald Ross
Associates.
The 18-hole course was opened for play
in August, 1928.
Additional 9 holes opened July 2, 1932.
OTHER PARK BUILDINGS
Administration Building--
Built in 1921 and 1922.
Architect: Barton E. Brooke.
Mill Creek
Park--Source of Mill Creek 195
Service Building--
Built in 1926.
Architect--Barton
E. Brooke.
Old Mill--
First mill built by
John and Phineas Hill about 1789.
It was constructed of
round logs.
This mill was
replaced by a larger and better one about 1823.
Built by Eli Baldwin.
This mill was washed away in an
unprecedented flood
in the summer of 1843. The present
mill was built by
Samuel Kimberly and German Lanterman
in 1845 and 1846. It
was operated as a flour mill until 1888.
Log Cabin--
Originally stood in a
meadow northeast of Bears Den.
Built by William
Hatfield about 1816. It was moved to its
present site on the
Price Road about 1873.
Superintendent's
Residence--
Located on the
northeast corner of the West Park Drive and
the Old Furnace Road.
At one time it was used as Y. M.
C. A. Club house.
Foreman's Cottage
on Calvary Run--
Original location--In
what is Lake Glacier, almost directly in
front of the boat
landing.
Original owners--It
was the old Brininger House, later
owned by Joe Ristle
Year moved--The house
was torn down and rebuilt at its
present site when
Lake Glacier was built.
Foreman's House at
Glacier Boat Landing--
Original
location-Across the drive from where it now stands.
Original
owner--William Green.
Golf Course Field
House--
Built in Spring of 1929.
Architect--Brooke
& Dyer.
Equipped with 209 lockers and
also complete restaurant
facilities.
Grills in
park ............................. 189
Picnic tables in park ...................... 367
Benches in
park.......................... 1001
Drives--Foot
Trails--Bridle Paths--
There are 20 miles of
drives; 13 3/4 miles of gravel roads;
4 3/4 miles of
macadam, 1 1/2 miles of dirt roads, 12 miles of foot
trails and 7 miles of
bridle paths in the park.
196 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications
LOCATION OF WELLS AND
SPRINGS
Wells--
1 East Side Bathhouse
2 Volney Rogers Field
3 Slippery Rock
Pavilion
4 Cricket Field
5 Lanterman's Falls
6 Chestnut Hill
Pavilion
7 Spur
8 Cascade Ravine
9 Superintendent's
Residence
10 Orchard Meadow
11 Slippery Rock
Meadow
12 West Side
Bathhouse
13 West Newport South
of Dam
14 West Newport south
of Midlothian Blvd.
15 West Newport at Truesdale Road
16 West Newport
at High Tension Lines
17 Bears Den Meadow
18 Bears Den near Ford
19 Pioneer Pavilion (inside)
20 Pioneer Pavilion
(outside)
21 Service Building
22 No. 8 Green
23 Amphitheatre
Flowing Wells--
24 Club Center
25 No. 10 Green
26 No. 4 Green
27 East Drive South of Shields Road
28 West Drive South of
Shields Road
29 Pump House
30 New Golf Course No.
5 Green
Springs--
31 Slippery Rock Water
Trough
32 Pioneer Pavilion
33 Glacier Gravel Pit
34 Sulphur Spring
35 Bears Den Quarry
36 Cohasset Spring
37 West Trail north of
Canfield Road
38 Paddock
Mill
Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek
197
PARKS
IN OHIO
Under
the Control of the State and the United States.
PARKS
UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE OHIO STATE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
AND HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Name
of Park County Acres
Big
Bottom State Park .................. Morgan ..... 2
Buffington
Island Memorial State Park.... Meigs ....... 5
James
E. Campbell State Park............ Franklin .... 1
Campus
Martius Memorial State Museum.. Washington . 2
George
Rogers Clark Monument .......... Clark ...... 1
Cooper
Petroglyph State Park............ Jackson ..... 14
Custer
Memorial State Park.............. Harrison ... 2
Fallen
Timbers State Park.............. Lucas ...... 2 1/2
Felix
Renick Monument ................. Ross.... Monument
Only
Flint
Ridge State Park ................. Licking ..... 24
Fort
Amanda State Park ................ Auglaize .... 10
Fort
Ancient State Park................ Warren ..... 310
Fort
Hill State Park .................. Highland ... 360
Fort
Jefferson State Park............... Darke ...... 8
Fort
Laurens State Park ................ Tuscarawas . 80
Fort
Recovery State Park............... Mercer ..... 7
Fort
St Clair State Park ................ Preble ...... 89
Glacial
Grooves State Park............. Erie ....... 7
Gnadenhutten
Memorial State Park....... Tuscarawas . 5
Grant
Memorial State Park............. Clermont .... 2
William
Henry Harrison Memorial State
Park
............................... Hamilton ... 16
Inscription
Rock State Park............. Erie ....... 1/2
Logan
Elm State Park.................. Pickaway ... 5
McCook
Monument State Park .......... Meigs ...... 1/8
Miamisburg
Mound State Park.......... Montgomery. 19
Mound
Builders' State Park............. Licking ..... 80
Mound
City State Park ................ Ross ....... 57
Octagon
State Park .................... Licking ..... 125
Schoenbrunn
Memorial State Park........ Tuscarawas. 172
Seip
Mound State Park ................ Ross ......... 1
Serpent
Mound State Park............. Adams ..... 60
Spiegel
Grove State Park............... Sandusky ...
25
Turkey
Foot Rock State Park .......... Lucas
...... 1/8
Williamson
Mound State Park.......... Greene
..... 5
198 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society
Publications
January
22 1934.
OHIO
PARKS
State
Parks
Department
of Public Works
Name Location Area. Acres
Buckeye
Lake ............... 20 mi. E. of Columbus,
Licking,
Perry and
Fairfield
Counties ... 4,000
Guilford
Lake ............... Hanover Township,
Columbiana
County.. 500
Indian Lake
................. N. W. of Bellefontaine,
Logan
County....... 6,300
Lake
St. Marys............. Mercer and
Auglaize
Counties
........... 15,500
Loramie
Lake................ 6 mi. S. of St. Marys
Lake. Shelby
and
Auglaize
Counties... 1,950
Portage
Lakes .............. 5 mi. S. Akron, Summit
County ............. 2,250
State
Forestry Department
Bryan
Park ................ 2 mi. E. of Yellow
Springs,
Greene County 500
Nelson
Ledges............... 1 1/2 m. N. E. Nelson
Center,
Portage County 40
Hocking
Series:
Ash
Cave, Old Man's Cave, Hocking County, begin-
Cedar Falls, Little Rocky ning 9
miles south of
Branch, Springer Hollow, Logan
............. 2,583
Conkle
Hollow, Spruce Run.
Mohican
Park .............. 2 1/2 mi. S. W. of Lou-
donville,
Ashland
County
on Highway
97
................. 500
Waterloo
.................... 2 mi. S. W. Mineral,
Athens
County ..... 421
Dean
Forest ................ 14 mi. N. of Ironton,
Lawrence
County... 1,700
Shawnee
Forest .............. 12 mi. N. of Portsmouth,
Scioto
County ...... 19,120
Pike
Forest ................. 10 mi. E. of Waverly,
Pike
County........ 3,500
Scioto
Trail.................. 10 mi. S. W. of Chilli-
cothe,
Ross County.. 7,500
Mill Creek Park-Source of Mill
Creek 199
GAME PRESERVE
Division of Fish and Game, Department of
Agriculture
Roosevelt Preserve............ 17 mi. W. of Ports-
mouth, Scioto County. 8,600
NATIONAL PARKS
Monuments Erected by the U. S.
Government
Name Location
Fort Recovery Monument
.....................Mercer County
Perry's Victory Monument
.................. South Bass Island
Ottawa County
200 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications APPENDIX Geological Evolution of Ohio From the Epicontinental Sea. |
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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek 201 |
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202 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications |
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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek 203 |
|
204 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications |
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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek 205 |
|
206 Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications |
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Mill Creek Park--Source of Mill Creek 207 |
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MILL CREEK PARK
AND THE
SOURCE OF MILL CREEK
BY CHARLES BURLEIGH GALBREATH
When the earth took spherical and solid
form, it
presented in the earliest ages whose
records have been
deciphered on the rocks, a surface of
land and water.
The continental areas were then limited
and low.
Much of what now constitutes the dry
land was under
water. In North America the land
portions were chiefly
north of the Great Lakes. What is now
the Mississippi
valley was then covered by a great
inland sea of com-
paratively shallow depth.
It should be remembered that
sedimentary rocks, or
those formed and placed by the action
of water, are de-
posited in successive layers or strata.
At the basis of
all such rock formation is what, for a
better designa-
tion, we may call the primordial
bed-rock. Scientists
differ as to its origin. Those who
still accept the nebular
hypothesis of Laplace claim that this
bed-rock is a part
of the original crust of the earth and
was formed when
the surface changed, in cooling, from a
molten to a
solid condition. Others claim that the
heat that pro-
duced this came from the center of the
earth. It is
enough for us to know that this
primordial bed-rock
exists; that its condition is due to
heat; that the ele-
ments composing it are of igneous or
metamorphic
(137)