Look Back: Seeking another park
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27 Acres For Park Offered City in $3,200 Sewer Deal
Interested persons today prepared to ask the board of commerce to take an interest in the city's obtaining some 27 acres of land lying north of Lakeview drive, for a city park. Last May, according to city officials, the city was approached through a representative of the Shattuck heirs, to whom the land belongs, who offered the acreage to the city for a park, in exchange for credit for approximately $3,200 outstanding in sewer assessments against other property in the North End.
Although the land offered for the park is said to be worth many times the amount due for sewer assessments against the other properties, city officials had no money in the treasury with which to apply on the assessments. They said it would be impossible to wipe off these assessments without having cash-in-hand to apply against them.
Inasmuch as the board of commerce recently spent some $6,000 for a four-acreage plot on the northeast corner of the City park for a parking lot for automobiles, when the swimming pool is completed, it was felt by some that the board of commerce might be interested in the land for a park.
The approximately 27 acres is one of the loveliest stretches of woodland in the county and includes the lake which is used for a fish hatchery by the Wild Life league of the county.
A WPA project could be obtained easily, were the land in the possession of the city, to clean off the section and put it in shape for a park, it is said. Already there are many paths through the wood, and with the building of a few steak ovens, and the piping of water through the section, a park could be constructed at small cost as the natural growth is one which provides a perfect setting.
Persons interested in the city obtaining the land, point out that the growth of Parkersburg can be only in that direction as the other two rivers prevent any expansion in the west or south, and within a few years the park would be in the center of the city. Too, it is pointed out, Parkersburg lacks a park such as the Shattuck property would provide, as its City park, while very beautiful, is less wooded than this section.
The Parkersburg Sentinel
July 25, 1936
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About Charles H. Shattuck, 1837-1911
Being credited with having drilled the first oil well in West Virginia, Shattuck went on to become sheriff of Wood County, mayor of Parkersburg, president of the Citizens National Bank, creator of Terrapin Park, co-organizer of the Parkersburg Electric Light Co., developer of Parkersburg Inter-Urban streetcar system, instrumental in the building of the East Street bridge and development of the South Parkersburg industrial complex, and builder of Shattuck Park in South Parkersburg. Charles Shattuck has certainly earned his position as one of the most influential men in the development of Parkersburg and Wood County.
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Bob Enoch is president of the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society. If you have comments or questions about Look Back items, please contact him at: roberteenoch@gmail.com, or by mail at WCHPS, PO Box 565, Parkersburg, WV 26102.