WARREN Park to honor women
The park, on city hall property, will include a garden.
By AMANDA C. DAVIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Mothers, teachers and young women who've contributed to Trumbull County will take a place in history alongside Civil War widows and pioneer women who first came to the area.
Their hardships, triumphs and everyday lives, past and present, will be memorialized in a women's park on the southeast corner of the Warren City Hall property on Mahoning Avenue.
The Harriet Taylor Upton Association is sponsoring the park as part of the Ohio Bicentennial project to celebrate Ohio's 200 years of statehood in 2003.
Lana Dunn Eisenbraun, curator for the association, said landscape plans are not yet firm but will include a garden, and possibly benches and a walkway or courtyard.
Markers: A large bronze marker will be erected in honor of the unknown women who've made contributions to Trumbull County in the past. Pavers, which Eisenbraun said are larger than bricks, will be inscribed with women's names and a few words about who they were or what they contributed.
It should be completed by next spring, she said, explaining: "It will be something to celebrate the life of a woman, not just a name."
Once the cost of pavers is set, Eisenbraun said, the community will be able to purchase them to honor a particular woman.
The curator said she came up with the idea for a park after seeing a similar one in Yellow Springs, Ohio, "and I thought, 'what a lovely idea.'"
Jan Goist, a member of the association, said she's honored to be part of the project and noted the organization is busy with plans for a summer re-enactment of Upton's Victorian wedding.
Who she was: Harriet Taylor Upton was a suffragette who worked with Susan B. Anthony, Goist said.
Upton was named treasurer of the National Women's Suffrage Association in 1892, and in 1898 became the first woman elected to the Warren School Board.
She became the chairwoman of an Ohio Republican women's group in 1920, and was vice chairwoman of the National Republican Executive Committee.
Others recognized: Eisenbraun said Upton will be recognized along with other women. They include Phoebe Sutliff, who was an educator from Warren who went on to become dean of an out-of-town college, and Zellhart Deming, who was a reporter at the Tribune-Chronicle who became its owner, publisher and managing editor.
Mike Keys, director of Warren Redevelopment and Planning, said the city will not sell the property to the Upton Association, but will likely decide to work out some kind of lease arrangement, possibly charging $1 per year.
The location is ideal because it can be seen from the street, Keys said, explaining he was told the park could include a bridge and fountain.
"It will be a great addition to Warren's historic corridor along Mahoning Avenue," he added.
Eisenbraun said she hopes to establish an endowment fund to provide long-term care for the park.
As a member of the Women's Advisory Council to the Ohio Bicentennial Commission, Eisenbraun said it's her responsibility to ensure women aren't forgotten in the 200th anniversary.
"There are so many women who are lost in history," she explained.
davis@vindy.com