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Postcards show evolution of Mill Creek MetroParks
The Vindicator (Youngstown)
Photo
Keith Kaiser, horticulture director for Mill Creek MetroParks, discusses two of his favorite postcards featured in the “Wish You Were Here” display. The display showcases about 150 vintage postcards of the park that Kaiser has collected through sales and auctions over the past 20 years.
By Elise Franco
YOUNGSTOWN
When Keith Kaiser realized he owned a part of Mill Creek MetroParks history, he wanted to share it.
Kaiser, horticulture director for the MetroParks, said he began
collecting old MetroParks postcards about 20 years ago through sales, auctions and eBay.
He said he decided to put the postcards into a display at Fellows Riverside Gardens’ D.D. and Velma Davis Education & Visitor Center so that those visiting the gardens could see how the park has changed over the decades.
“These postcards tell a story,” he said. “They’re purchased as souvenirs as people visit the MetroParks, and they tell all kinds of stories that make you wonder their meaning.”
Kaiser said the display, called “Wish You Were Here” after one of the cards in the collection, contains about 150 postcards with the oldest dating back to 1906.
The display will run in the Melnick Museum on the bottom floor of the Davis Center through January 2012.
Though most of the cards feature picturesque areas in the MetroParks, such as Lake Glacier, Lanterman’s Mill and Fellows
Riverside Gardens, Kaiser does have a handful that portray Youngstown’s iconic Idora Park.
“It’s a snapshot in time that shows the past,” he said. “It’s a fun thing to look at.”
Linda Kostka, MetroParks marketing and development director, said the fact that Kaiser was able to collect so many old postcards from the parks and from Idora is a testament to the strong ties people have to the Mahoning Valley.
“It has some nice nostalgic pieces to look at,” she said. “It’s something very different, and it really captures the spirit of the MetroParks.”
Kostka said having the display in the Melnick Museum is another way to tie the MetroParks history together.
“Inside there, you also have the history of Volney Rogers and the Fellows family,” she said. “I like to see history not read about it, so this is a good place to go.”
Kaiser said the historical connections were not coincidental.
“The postcards connected with the history here,” he said. “When you look at these postcards, you see things from the past that are now gone.”