LYTLE PARK
Dedicated on July 6, 1907. It was named
for Brigadier General William Haines Lytle (1826-1863) who was killed at
Chickamauga during the Civil War, and whose family home still stood on the site
at that time. The city bought the land bounded by Third, Fourth, Lawrence, and
Lytle Streets in 1905. Many dwellings were razed including the Lytle home.
The eleven foot high Lincoln Statue, (without a beard),
was created by George Grey Barnard in his New York Studio from 1911 to 1916. On
March 31, 1917, the statue was presented to the city by Mr. and Mrs. Charles P.
Taft. Former President William Howard Taft made the principle address at the
unveiling.
The last card shows a more modern view of the park, and
as you can see there is a highway under the park in the center of the card. This
is the connector that I-71 used to unite with I-75 on the western side of the
city. On July 2, 1964 the city accepted an offer from Western-Southern Life
Insurance Company to pay for a concrete slab to support the park to allow a
tunnel to be dug underneath it. In return the insurance company received the
rights to erect an apartment building over the tunnel at 550 East 4th St.
The 1st view above is a very nice non-postcard image of the park, it also shows the Pugh Building on the left, the Taft Museum in the center, and above it Mount Adams. The 2nd image shows Lincoln looking west down Fourth Street.
LINCOLN PARK
Park Plan
Lincoln Park was in the area where Union Terminal now stands. The city owned this land and in 1858 it was converted to a much needed park in the overcrowded west end. It was one of the most heavily used parks in the city. During the winter as many as 5000 people could be seen skating on the frozen pond, (see postcard below) and in the hot summer nights as many as 1,500 tenement dwellers slept there.
By the late 1920s this area had become a
vast slum and at that time the city needed a single railroad terminal away from
the riverfront and its constant flooding so this spot seemed ideal for its
construction. Of course the 1937 flood proved you can't hide from Mother Nature.
The statue you see is of Captain John Desmond who was the
company commander of the First Regiment of the Cincinnati Ohio National Guard.
He was killed as he led his men in an attempt to drive back the mob that was
attacking the court house in 1884. The Statue is now located in the lobby of the
Hamilton County Courthouse.
Private mailing
card
Lincoln Park Baptist Church
INWOOD PARK
Originally called "Schoenberger's Woods" this site along the Vine Street hill south of McMillan was the summer home of Cincinnati Millionaire George K. Schoenberger. It later became of source of stone used for the foundations of many Cincinnati homes. After the quarry was abandoned, the site turned into a dump. In 1904 the city acquired the 20 acres of land and completed a park that had already been started by local volunteers. Not seen in these cards is the 10' granite monument honoring Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778-1852), founder of the Turner Society in Germany, (see Turner Page). Turner societies regularly paraded up Vine Street from their hall at 14th and Walnut Streets to hold picnics and other events here. It was unveiled on October 22, 1911.
Non-postcard image
FOR MORE PARK
CARDS 
