Historic Eden Park Reservoir, Cincinnati, Ohio

Welcome back to another episode of History in Your Own Backyard. I'm your host Susie Sellick, here today in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Eden Park Reservoir Dam. Stay tuned, this one's cool. I'll tell you all about it. The land that Eden Park occupies today was originally owned by Nicholas Longworth, a prominent Cincinnati landowner who previously used the area as a And that, of course, is in reference to the biblical Garden of Eden. The city of Cincinnati bought the acreage from Longworth in 1869 and retained the name Eden for the park. The city constructed a 12-acre, 96-million-gallon reservoir that was completed in 1878. The Eden Park Station No. 7 pumped water from the Ohio River into the reservoir and then into the Eden Park Stand Pipe. The east basin retaining wall consisted of eight elliptical arches, each spanning 55 feet. The total length was 1,250, and at the very base, it starts at 48.5 feet, but it tapers to 25 feet on that top walk. These basins were cleaned in alternate years, and everything was found from wrecked cars to suicide victims. And when this cleaning took place, municipal picnics complete with music and dancing were held inside of the empty basin. Although chemical purification of the city water began in 1907 at the new water plant upriver at California, the Eden Park Reservoir remained in use. In the 1960s, the stone retaining wall of the lower eastern basin was largely removed, and the basin filled in for ball fields. The upper western basin was made deeper to increase its capacity to 80 million gallons. The reservoir was used until 1965 when it was covered with a shallow reflecting pool that covers almost a full acre. So thank you for watching another episode of History in Your Own Backyard. I'm your host Susie Selleck here today in Cincinnati, Ohio at the Eden Park Reservoir Dam. Hope you enjoyed your time with us and learned a little something on this beautiful Saturday morning. Remember, travel slowly and stop often. Bye for now!