Our Brookside Park of Yesteryear
Here it is s late at night and although I am tired I cannot sleep, so I googled Brookside Park just to see what I could find. Here are a few of the things I found. Brookside Park was dedicated on Memorial Day in 1902. Does that mean that the old stone wall along Fulton Road could be that old or maybe even older. The Zoo was moved from Wade Park to Brookside Park. I found a turn of the century postcard collection available from the Cleveland Public Library, and then I found this And here is a print that can be purchased depicting an early baseball game These postcards are an awesome display showing Brookside Park in its early years. And in 1972, there was a sighting of Bigfoot at Brookside Park. Hmmm, 1972, sighting of Bigfoot, could something else have had an influence here? And one last postcard of the Brookside Zoo from yesteryear.
Mrs. Ivey and her daughter Mary Esther told me of the great times that they spent with family and friends at Brookside Park. Mary Esther told of ice skating parties in the winter, tennis matches whenever the weather was amenable, and the lake where there was boating and canoeing and swimming in the summer.
They told me of fireworks displays on the 4th of July and baseball games at the historic baseball field where the seats were nestled into the side of the hill. There were old fashioned concerts and all sorts of events all year long. Looking at these postcards, and remembering those conversations with two of my favorite people make me realize that a park can be a sense of place and community for a neighborhood. With that, I will say good night.