Happy Monday! I am honoring Toledo Parks this week and I have some oldies for you! Pictured below is City Park in Toledo, Ohio. In 1871 the City of Toledo purchased a private park from Peter Lenk at the south edge of town. Additional adjoining property was purchased from Horace Walbridge in 1873. The combined seven acres was at the northeast corner of the intersection of Nebraska Ave. and Elizabeth St. The site was made into the first of many public recreation areas and named City Park. City Park was renamed to Rev. H. V. Savage Park around 1997 in honor of Reverend Harvey Savage, Sr. who founded Lo-Salem Missionary Baptist Church and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Kitchen for the poor. Toledo's first park was small, but due to its location in the midst of a densely populated neighborhood, it was immediately popular. City Park even featured a tennis court and the first public swimming pool! *Note that there were Private Parks that existed in Toledo before 1871. One of these was Lenk's Park which was located on the City Park site. It is thought that the earliest park was created when an area along the old Woodville Plank Road was platted in 1858 and a portion was designated as a "Village Green." *** #toledohistory #blasttothepast #firstpublicpark #cityparkhistory #toledoohio #genealogy #ancestry #thegenealogyinvestigator https://www.instagram.com/p/CfBqr-POY04/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=
