Cascade Park, Elyria photograph   Save
Ohio Guide Collection
Description: Dated ca. 1935-1940, this shows four photographs of Cascade Park in Elyria, Ohio. Cascade Park, located on Park Road, near the intersection of West River Road North and Furnace Street, lies in a deep gorge of the Black River, carved by the same glaciers that created the Great Lakes. It is the largest and most popular park in Elyria and has retained its natural beauty despite is modern playground. Ohio Guide mentions a swimming pool, but it appears to be gone. Winding trails lead through thick clumps of trees and shrubs, though picnic groves, and past craggy masses of the gorge. Time and erosion have carved Shelter Cave, Bear Den, Robber's Den, Natural Bridge, and other configurations scattered throughout the park. This photograph is one of the many visual materials collected for use in the Ohio Guide. In 1935, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Works Progress Administration by executive order to create jobs for the large numbers of unemployed laborers, as well as artists, musicians, actors, and writers. The Federal Arts Program, a sector of the Works Progress Administration, included the Federal Writers’ Project, one of the primary goals of which was to complete the America Guide series, a series of guidebooks for each state which included state history, art, architecture, music, literature, and points of interest to the major cities and tours throughout the state. Work on the Ohio Guide began in 1935 with the publication of several pamphlets and brochures. The Reorganization Act of 1939 consolidated the Works Progress Administration and other agencies into the Federal Works Administration, and the Federal Writers’ Project became the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio. The final product was published in 1940 and went through several editions. The Ohio Guide Collection consists of 4,769 photographs collected for use in Ohio Guide and other publications of the Federal Writers’ Project in Ohio from 1935-1939. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: SA1039AV_B09F16_071
Subjects: Waterfalls; Parks; Geography and Natural Resources; Geology; Lorain County (Ohio)
Places: Elyria (Ohio); Lorain County (Ohio)