Summit Metro Parks is a Metroparks system serving the citizens of Summit County, Ohio by managing in 16 developed parks, six conservation areas and more than of trails, with of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail.
The park district is fully supported by a levy, which voters are periodically asked to approve. Rangers are commissioned peace officers who provide safety and security by enforcing the park district's rules, regulations, state, and local laws.
History
In times of war, people often look for ways to escape the news and demands of the era. During World War I, Americans increasingly looked to parks and natural areas for temporary diversions. Congress responded by creating the National Park Service in 1916, and the Ohio General Assembly made possible the formation of metropolitan park districts the following year.
In July 1917, Cleveland Metroparks became the first metropolitan park district in the State of Ohio. On December 31, 1921, Metro Parks (then called the Akron Metropolitan Park District) became the second park system established under Chapter 1545 of the Ohio Revised Code.
Progress was slow in the appointment of the first commissioners, perhaps due to the post-war economy. After more than a year, Summit County Probate Judge Lewis D. Slusser finally appointed James Shaw, Maude I. Milar and Charles B. Raymond. The trio's first meeting was May 15, 1923. The board considered several recreation projects, but things were generally slow-moving until 1925, when Shaw was replaced by Edmund D. Eckroad, chief engineer for the Northern Ohio Traction & Light Company, a predecessor of Ohio Edison, and Raymond was replaced by Frank A. Seiberling, founder of Akron's Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company.
With new board members in place, famous landscape architects the Olmsted Brothers were asked in May 1925 to create a countywide park plan and identify sites that were suitable for park use. Their famous father, Frederick Law Olmsted, designed major parks throughout the country, most notably New York's Central Park. The accomplished Olmsted Brothers, John C. and Frederick Jr., worked on parks in Baltimore, Seattle and New York.
In June, as Akron celebrated its centennial, Seiberling publicly accepted the first gift of land – a small, triangular plot on N. Portage Path with 150 feet of frontage at the intersection of Merriman Road. The land, donated by Joseph Courtney of the Courtney Dairy Company, was named Courtney Park. A boulder and bronze plaque were later dedicated by the Daughters of the American Revolution to commemorate the site. This bronze relief at the intersection of North Portage Path and Merriman Road commemorates the site of Courtney Park.
In 1926, the superintendent of Akron's city parks, Harold S. Wagner, was appointed the first director-secretary of the young park district. In his formative years, Wagner worked in Boston with the Olmsted Brothers, and later on projects owned by Seiberling. Between the late 1920s and the end of 1930, more than 1,000 acres were donated. Thanks to the generosity of prosperous local land owners, the young park system now included 1,600 acres in five reservations. To fund park projects and land acquisition, voters passed a .10-mill levy in November 1928.
Less than a year after the passage of the levy, the stock market crashed. Losses would reach $15 billion nationwide. Factories closed, banks failed and jobs became increasingly scarce. The Hoover administration took several steps to combat the Great Depression, but instability continued. After the 1932 presidential election, Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal would boost the economy, and the creation of a Civilian Conservation Corps, which put millions of laborers to work nationwide, enabled Metro Parks to launch new parks and complete many projects.
Today, Metro Parks manages , including 14 developed parks, six conservation areas and more than of trails, with of the Ohio & Erie Canal Towpath Trail. Annual attendance averages 4.5 million visitors.
Parks
Cascade Valley/North in Akron
Named for Sherman and Mary Schumacher, who donated 171 acres to Metro Parks in 1968, Schumacher Valley remains one of the most rugged areas within the city of Akron. Located in the valley's pre-glacial bedrock canyon are steep-cut ravines indicative of the Cuyahoga River's tributary streams. A canopy of oak, American beech, sassafras and black cherry provides cover for smaller shrubs. There are herbs and wildflowers, including spring beauty, Jack-in-the-pulpit, rue anemone and jewelweed. Great horned owls, chickadees and six species of woodpecker take cover here.
ACTIVITIES: Hiking (Schumacher Trail 1.2 miles; Valley Link Trail 2.8 miles), Picnicking
Cascade Valley/South in Akron
In 1833, hydraulic engineer and entrepreneur Eliakim Crosby built the Cascade Race, a waterway that powered the mills and businesses along the Ohio & Erie Canal. The Cascade Race helped transform Akron into a boomtown. Years later, Crosby built the failed Chuckery Race; traces of it can still be seen in this Metro Park. Today, fish here are prey for belted kingfishers and great blue or green-backed herons. Beautiful white trillium grows in the floodplain woods each spring beside wild ginger and several types of violets. Summer and fall wildflowers also flourish, illuminating the landscape. Several rare and unique natural features can be found within the Chuckery Area. South of the entrance drive, near the intersection of the Chuckery Trail, is a meadow that harbors many unusual plants and several species of showy wildflowers. Just up the hill from the meadow is prairie, where wild lupines bloom about mid-May. Other rare species can be found individually throughout the park, including butternut trees – a species surviving despite the butternut canker disease threatening their range. Less conspicuous, but no less rare, are crinkled hairgrass, satin brome and southern hairy rock cress.
ACTIVITIES: Hiking (Chuckery Trail 2.4 miles; Highbridge Trail 3.2 miles; Overlook 0.5 miles; Oxbow Trail 1.2 miles), Baseball/Softball, Cross-country Skiing, Fishing, Picnicking, Sledding, Soccer
Cascade Locks in Akron
Here, along the Towpath Trail, the Cascade Locks tell the story of Akron's early industry. The steepest section of the Ohio & Erie Canal was between Akron and the Little Cuyahoga River. In a single mile, 15 locks, or "steps," were necessary to enable boats to climb the Continental Divide. Locks 10 through 16 form the Cascade Locks Area. The two buildings north of the parking lot and adjacent to Lock 15 are some of the oldest structures in Akron. The Mustill House and store, built between 1825 and 1850, served the local community and the people traveling the canal. The area was designated as National Historic District in 1992 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Present throughout the area are native wildflower species, flowers brought by immigrants from Europe, and weeds carried by man, horse and canal boat. The tree population reflects both invasive plants and native trees that are able to flourish in inner-city conditions. Birds seen in this area include robins, blue jays, sparrows, cardinals and red-tailed hawks.
ACTIVITIES: Hiking, Picnicking
Deep Lock Quarry in Peninsula
Within Deep Lock Quarry lies Lock 28, which at 17 feet was the deepest lock on the Ohio & Erie Canal, and an old quarry from which blocks of Berea sandstone were cut for the canal locks and other local structures. Ferdinand Schumacher, who is credited with introducing oatmeal to America by supplying it to Union troops during the Civil War, purchased a portion of the quarry in 1879. The sandstone found in the quarry was ideal for mill stones, which were used to remove the outer hulls of oats processed at Akron's American Cereal Works (later Quaker Oats). Stone was last taken from the quarry in the 1930s, when the Civilian Conservation Corps used the sandstone to construct several Metro Parks facilities, including Pioneer Shelter in Goodyear Heights Metro Park. Deep Lock Quarry became a Metro Park in 1934. Today, the park is home to more Ohio buckeye trees than any other Metro Park in Summit County. The old canal bed is home to frogs, turtles and salamanders. A shallow swamp has developed on the quarry floor, where rose pink (an herb) and the invasive narrow-leaved cattail grow.
ACTIVITIES: Hiking (Buckeye Trail; Cuyahoga Trail 13.1 miles; Quarry Trail 1.2 miles), Fishing, Picnicking
Firestone in Akron
Dairy cows once grazed the hillsides of the area known today as Firestone Metro Park. In 1949, Metro Parks received a gift of 89 acres from the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. Acquisitions of nearby parcels expanded the park to 258 acres. In 1956, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources completed construction of a nearby dam, intended to create a reservoir for industrial water needs. As the reservoir of the adjacent Firestone Golf Course filled, the water table rose downstream, forming the large wetland and marshy meadows of Firestone Metro Park. Along with the Tuscarawas River and Tuscarawas Race, which once channeled water to the Ohio & Erie Canal, the area is home to fish, crayfish, frogs and turtles. The meadows and forest shelter foxes, coyotes, raccoons, skunks, muskrats, rabbits, mice, voles and moles, along with many beautiful summer and fall wildflowers. More than 175 bird species have been sighted in Firestone Metro Park, including various types of wrens, thrushes, warblers, woodpeckers, herons and ducks. A number of different raptors – including bald eagles – have also been spotted. A note to visitors: Poison sumac is found in the wet areas of Firestone Metro Park. This small tree/shrub contains a powerful skin irritant, similar to that of poison ivy. To avoid it, stay on designated trails.
ACTIVITIES: Hiking (Redwing Trail 1.1 miles; Walking Course 0.9 miles; Willow Trail 1.6 miles), Cross-country Skiing, Fishing, Picnicking, Sledding
Furnace Run in Richfield
The 890-acre Furnace Run Metro Park began in 1929 when the family of Charles Francis Brush Jr. donated 272 acres to Metro Parks. Much of the park was developed by work relief crews during the 1930s. Brushwood Lake, a once-popular swimming spot before erosion and sedimentation forced its closing in 1956, was created by diverting the natural flow of the Furnace Run. Every March and April, thousands of daffodils bloom along the H.S. Wagner Daffodil Trail. Wagner, the first director of Metro Parks, owned the land off Brush Road and planted the first bulbs along the trail. After he retired in 1958, he sold the property to Metro Parks and the land became part of Furnace Run Metro Park. Today, along the Old Mill trail, be sure to look for the Brush Family marker, which reads: "To all those who love as he loved the far sky and smiling land." Just south of Brushwood Lake flows a recently restored stretch of stream. The award-winning environmental project recreated several thousand feet of habitat for aquatic wildlife and native fish, including a thriving population of rainbow darters, a sensitive species. The park contains beech-maple woods, acres of spring wildflowers – including trillium and Virginia bluebells – and deep ravines. Birds spotted in Furnace Run Metro Park include a variety of owls, hawks, herons, warblers and waterfowl. Downstream from the lake, the wet woods of sycamores, black walnuts, willows and shrubs welcome an occasional family of beavers. Brushwood Lake is home to fish, frogs and other aquatic wildlife.
ACTIVITIES: Hiking (Daffodil Trail 0.6 miles; Old Mill Trail 1.0 miles; Rock Creek Trail 1.2 miles), Cross-country Skiing, Fishing, Ice Skating, Picnicking, Sledding
Goodyear Heights in Akron