THE WESTERVILLE PUBLIC LIBRARYLocal History Resource Center NewsletterFall 2014

A Walk Through Westerville History

1

Grace and Mary Innis were close in age, but very different in personality and interests. Grace was the older by a year. She loved throwing parties and digging in the dirt to plant flowers and scrubs. She loved studying horticulture. Mary, on the other hand, liked to be in the house cooking and cleaning. She was quieter and not as fond of parties as sister Grace. She did love the woods and liked to go there to watch birds.

In 1961, the Innis sisters bought land on Hempstead Road in Westerville and built a house on the property. Mary was 66 and Grace a year older when they moved to their new home. Five years after moving into the new home, Mary died. Grace decided that something special should be done with the property that they both loved. She made a gift of the land to the Metro Park District with the stipula-tion that they could not have the land until she died and that they would acquire adjacent land so that there would be sufficient property to create a new park.

A decade after the arrangement of this special gift, Grace Innis died at the age of 88 and the new park was created. Inniswood Metro Park had something that reminds us of each of the sisters – trails winding through the quiet beech tree forest filled with the birds that Mary loved to watch and beautiful beds of colorful flowers and plants in honor of Grace.

In 2002, the Sisters Garden was dedicated at Inniswood. It contains features for children to explore – miniature replica farm buildings, running water, and a tree house. A sculpture in the garden depicts two sisters. I am sure Mary and Grace would be thrilled to see all the visitors wanderering through the land they loved.

Innis Sisters

Booker, the Westerville Public Library mascot, poses in the sister’s garden at Inniswood.

2

Blendon Woods

Thoreau Pond, named for poet Henry David Thoreau, is an eleven acre pond which attracts birds year round at Blendon Woods Metro Park. More than 220 species of birds stop by this beauty spot as they are migrating. The banks of the pond house bird feeders and the pond is aerated to prevent total freezing. Human beings can get an up close look at the birds and other wildlife by visiting the buildings on the edge of the pond that allow them to view the an-imals without be-ing seen. Another special feature of this park is the Monarch Mansion used from June to September by staff raising mon-arch caterpillars until they become butterflies. The butterflies are tagged and some have been sighted in Mexico.

One day before the end of World War II in 1945, the Metro Parks system was founded. Today the Metro Park system has over 24, 500 acres of land and water under its protection. But in 1945, only 100 acres of woods were owned by the public for parkland in the area. Franklin County was only 5 percent forest with roads, houses and businesses spreading over almost every available acre of land. A group of people had the foresight to know that natural habitat and green space was going to be important to make Central Ohio an attractive area to live. One of the first park board members appointed was Westerville resident Charles R. Bennett, local businessman and civic leader. He served on the board for twelve years.

In March 1948, the Metro Parks acquired their first parcel of land – Blacklick Woods. Blendon Woods was the second park to be established in 1951. By 1961, Blendon Woods had doubled in size. Sharon Woods opened its gates in the fall of 1968. Today there are seventeen parks that are part of the Metro Parks District and each is unique.

A brief history of Metro Parks

3

Sharon Woods

Located on the former Schrock family farm, Sharon Woods Park is a 760 acre park which features a 14 acre lake named in honor of those early pioneers – Schrock Lake. The lake is open to fishermen younger than 16 and older than 60. Residents of Westerville can be seen using the park’s playground and walk-ing its trails. These trails lead hikers through woodlands, meadows, prai-ries and wetlands. So many different habitats in one park!

A few years ago, the park was part of a controversy because of a rise in the deer population on the land. The deer were eating the plants in the park and soon the foliage could not provide food for all of the deer in the park so they began to be very malnourished and sick. There was a battle about how to handle this problem, but finally many deer were moved out of the park.

A preschool class fishing at the lake in Sharon Woods Park in 1986

4

Hired in the early years of the Metro Parks District when Blendon Woods was being developed, Wendell Lust drew from his many life experiences to handle his new job as park ranger. Lust had grown up on a farm in Delaware County, he had experience as a carpenter, and finally had worked as a bread salesman before joining the Metro Parks as its sec-ond park ranger. Ranger Lust said that his early life on a farm had helped him develop an appreciation for and knowledge of nature and animals.

His previous work as a carpenter became useful as he built shelter houses and other park structures. Finally, he spent time sell-ing people on the value of the park system and the important experiences it provided visitors to Blen-don Woods. The entire Lust family worked in the park with the sons selling refreshments and count-ing cars as they entered the park to help compile park attendance statistics. Wendell Lust viewed his job as one of an educator – teaching visitors about the woodlands and the animals who lived there. After 23 years with Metro Parks, Wendell Lust retired and made his home in Westerville until his death in 2006.

Park Ranger

Monarch butterflies

Characteristics of a Monarch Butterfly

Bright orange coloring

White spots on their wide black borders

Black veins

Pale orange underneath

Female monarches are duller colored than males, and their wing veins are blurry and

thicker

Milkweed PLants

Monarch butterflies fly south when the weather gets cold. If they are in the western part of North America, they fly to California. If they are in the eastern part of North America, they fly to Mexico. Draw their fall migration patterns on this map.

Milkweed plants are the only food that monarch caterpillars will eat. In the Spring, the butterflies fly north from their winter hibernation locations in search of fresh spring milkweed so that they can mate and lay eggs.

Unfortunately, illegal logging in Mexico destroys forests where these insects spend their winters. In the United States, insecticides are being used by farmers who produce corn and soybeans. These insecticides kill all other plant life, including the milkweed plant.

Because so many milkweed plants are being killed in the United States, the existence of the monarch butterfly is threatened. Scientists and environmentalists warn that the disappearance of the monarch could harm the world’s ecosystem.

Did you know that monarch butterflies travel up to 2,500 miles to a place they’ve never been and average 25 miles a day?

How can you help?Can you think of ways that you and your community

could help to preserve the milkweed plant, and in turn protect the monarch butterfly from becoming

an endangered species?

5

6

Local History in the Classroom

Westerville History

The Local History Center is scheduling programs for fall, winter and spring. Let us bring history to your classroom. We will share stories about the early pioneers of Westerville, show old photos of the town, and talk about the growth of and change in the community with special emphasis on a transportation timeline. Classroom programs can be scheduled by contacting Beth Weinhardt at 259-5028.

Become a fan of “Westerville History” to see weekly posts, old photographs and upcoming events of interest to the Wester-ville Local History community.

Ohio and Westerville played an active role in the Underground Railroad. Many people were involved in helping runaway slaves escape to freedom. In our community, the Hanby family, George Stoner, the Alexander family and the Sharp family aided in this effort. Throughout the state of Ohio, others were working to make freedom possible for runaways. The Local History Resource Center has collected resources on this movement and would like to share the stories and the words of runaways with your class. We will share photos of the buildings used as part of the Underground Railroad in our community. To schedule a 30-minute program in your classroom, contact Beth Weinhardt at 259-5028.

Underground Railroad