Schiller Park
On May 27, 1901, the Syracuse Common Council approved spending $25,000 to buy 23.5 acres of Round Top Park (drumlin) for park purposes. The land was originally the home of St. Cecilia's Cemetery. This site was a forested hilltop with an open clearing around a drumlin-like landform believed to be an ancient burial ground. Bodies that had been buried in St. Cecelia's Cemetery were removed in 1901 to prepare the site for use as a park. The site was also used during the French and Indian War for a lookout. The name was changed from Round Top Park to Schiller Park on July 3, 1905.
Additional land was added in 1907 and the tract was formally laid out as a park in 1910.
David Campbell, former head gardener for the Thornden estate and at the time Superintendent of Parks for the city, designed Schiller Park in 1911, influenced by the prevailing Arts & Crafts Movement. The loop drives in Schiller Park complemented and emphasized the park's drumlin landform.
In early September 1915, work was begun on the new Schiller Park bathing, skating and Comfort Pavilion to be built at a cost of $13,000. The building was designed by the architectural firm of Merrick & Randall and approved by the Syracuse Park commission.
The new pavilion covered a plot of rectangular ground, northeast of the swimming pool. The structure was 71 feet (22 m) long by 21 feet (6.4 m) wide. The first floor was divided into separate locker rooms, shower rooms and accessory quarters for men and women. The top floor was open "so as to become practically a balcony," that could be enclosed in winter, when the building was used as a shelter for ice-patrons of the athletic-ground rink.
Unique to the park, honoring the German-American neighborhood population, is the Goethe–Schiller Monument. It was erected in 1911 by the German-American community. The monument honors Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) and Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805), regarded as Germany’s greatest poets/playwrights. The Syracuse monument is modeled on the 1857 Goethe–Schiller Monument in Weimar, which has become a national landmark in Germany.
Some of the park's built-in elements retain vestiges of the Arts and Crafts Movement. At the park's highest point, one can observe a panoramic view of downtown Syracuse.
Schiller Park today is over 37 acres in size and has nearly 3 miles of roads. The loop drives were closed to vehicular traffic in 1976. A significant stand of oaks still survives along the slopes of the drumlin from the early days of the park. The park is bounded by Oak Street, Rugby Road, Farmer Street, and Whitwell Drive.
Today Schiller Park is home to several athletic fields and courts including a softball diamond and a hardball diamond, six tennis courts, two handball courts and a basketball court. The park also has a pool that is 165 feet (50 m) long by 75 feet (23 m) wide with ten lanes. The pool has a capacity of 485 bathers. Water depth ranges from 3 feet (0.91 m) to 12 feet (3.7 m). The pool also has a children's spray fountain.
Read more about this topic: Northside, Syracuse, History, City Parks
Famous quotes containing the word park:
“Mrs. Mirvan says we are not to walk in [St. James’s] Park again next Sunday ... because there is better company in Kensington Gardens; but really, if you had seen how every body was dressed, you would not think that possible.”
—Frances Burney (1752–1840)