Ware High School - Limelight Yearbook (Ware, MA)

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In lZZ9 Jabez Omstead, VVare's first settler, who had received a grant of land, which probably covered a good part of the Township of NVare, traveling the Hadley Trail from Brookfield, crossed the river and located his farm just west of the Nenameseck. Not many years ago the cellar-hole of his home, long an object of interest and curiosity, was filled in during the process of grading the read through Grenville Park. To Jabez Omstead is due the credit of establishing the first mills in our town. VVhen the new settlers came to live in VVare, Jabez, from time to time, sold pieces of his land. These, in turn, were sold and resold until the present site of the park came into possession of the Gilberts through a succession of purchases in 1907. Mr. Gilbert was then one of the leading manufacturers in Ware, being the .rwner of the famous Gilbert mills. In 1901 the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert were saddened by the loss of their only son, Grenville Brown Gilbert, who died at the age of sixteen. Feeling that they could in no better way keep his memory alive than by linking it with a living monument of everlasting beauty which would be a continuous factor in the life of the community, Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert donated this land for use as a public park. Up to this time the Pumping Station Grounds and Aspen Grove Cemetery had been used for pleasure strolling and driving by the people of WV are. At the time of its acquisition the park was nothing more than unattractive and uncultivated pasture land. It was made to look as we know it today through the efiforts of Arthur A. Shurtlefif of Boston, who was chosen landscape architect. As can be readily seen, Mr. Shurtleff 'was an excellent choice for the position. His idea was to keep the land in a natural state like the rugged, hilly country across the river and yet develop it so that it would serve theldaily life of the busy inhabitants of our town. His work was so successful that today it looks like a threshhold for the wilderness of the hills beyond. Q The first work in the development of the park was the improvement of boundaries. This was accomplished by the acquisition of additional tracts of land bordering that already acquired, thus making the lines more continuous and .eliminating jogs and elbows. The boundaries are marked by a stone Wall, which was built from the rocks taken from the land.

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The next and most important work was the arrangement of trees and shrub- bery. Since the chief goal of the designer was naturalness, Mr. Shurtleff deliber- ately avoided a formal or symmetrical arrangement of the trees. Trees were planted only where shade was needed and in places where they would seem to have been placed by nature. Although many imported trees were available to the designers, their use in the park was deliberately avoided as was the use of cultivated flowers. Common New England trees such as the oak, ash, elm, and maple were planted, In like manner natural plants-such as white daisies, joe Pye-weed, Queen Anne's lace, steeple bush, and field lilies-were planted. Through the years many improvements have taken place in the park. Ball fields have been laid out, tennis courts constructedg drinking fountains installedg and benches have been scattered throughout the area. Today there are four beautiful stone entrances. Recently the VV are Lion's Club built in the park at great expense a picturesque, ultra-modern bandstand. This beautiful edihce stands just above the tennis courts against a background of woods. In 1911 the park was the site of the one hundred fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of NfVare. It is interesting to note -that at this time and in honor of this occasion the Reverend Arthur Chase's History of Vtfaren was written. Two years ago the park was also the scene of the Vlfelcome Home Celebration for all local veterans of VVorld VV ar H. Not only have Grenville Park's beauty and utility helped to make the lives of the natives of VVare a little richer and fuller, but those who have come to visit our town also appreciate its blessings. In the days before World VV ar I1 a world traveler, passing through VV are, chanced to drive through Grenville Park. His comment was that he had never seen in his travels elsewhere a finer park in an industrial community of the size of our town. Sylvester Baxter in an article in the Boston Transcript on New England memorial parks says these things of Grenville Park: f'Here in' Massachusetts in the busy manufacturing town of VV are is to be found the most notable instance of a public park established as a memorial-a park donated by the Gilberts to assure their home town a lastingly beautiful environment of practical utility and an inexhaustible source of recreation and health on a site where natural beauty lies in abundance. Earl Anderson, Editor-in-Chief