The Five River MetroParks which operates parks, trails and conservation areas in Montgomery County started from concern that open space would disappear due to urban growth. The early organization held concerns for both Montgomery County and Greene County. However, there was several notable parks and open spaces prior to the organization of the park district in 1961. This blog post will chronicle some of the popular open spaces in the area.
One of the first notable early parks was Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum. The cemetery was created in 1841 by John Van Cleve and is one of the oldest garden cemeteries in the United States. In the late 1800s, it was popular to have gatherings and picnics in cemeteries. By the 1920s our communities love for the outdoors changed and evolved with the changing times. The 1913 Flood in Dayton quickly brought change upon the city. Due to the catastrophic flooding, the Miami Valley raised more than two million dollars and passed the Conservancy Act to build a flood controls system. The Miami Conservancy District was created in 1915 and led by the appointed Chief Engineer, Arthur E. Morgan. The conservancy district constructed five dams to protect the city. Morgan was not only an engineer but a conservationist. He believed and fought for the impoundment areas above the dams to be made accessible for recreational pursuits.
These areas conserved by the district and Morgan are still used for recreation today and maintained by the Five River MetroParks. The flood systems were finished in 1922, but the rest of the 1920s would bring great change to the open spaces in Montgomery and Greene County with the establishment of John Bryan State Park (1925) and Glen Helen (1929). The state park was created from 335 acres along the Little Miami River’s gorge left to the state by businessman John Bryan. Glen Helen was left to Antioch College in memory of his daughter, Helen. Glen Helen continues to be privately owned by the college but has been a prominent organization in preserving open space in the Miami Valley. Five River MetroParks has done much for the protection and establishment of the park. However, Woodland, the Conservancy District, John Bryan Park, and Glen Helen are notable spaces that private organizations and state have created before the county park district was created.
1. MS-414, Woodland Cemetery Collection, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
2. MS-128, Miami Conservancy District Records, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.
3. [Series 1A, Box 1, Folders 1-24], MS-45, Five Rivers MetroParks Records, Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio.
4. “Fiver Rivers MetroParks History,” Five River MetroParks, accessed March 18, 2019, https://www.metroparks.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/MetroParks-History-032016.pdf.
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