How did Edgehill Park become a city park? – Ask the Parks Historian

One possible explanation is that this was a City owned property given the proximity to the roadways.  That supposition is supported by the fact that it became a city park space.  It is also a fairly steep hillside not particularly suited to farming or pasture land.  The picture shows only one structure at the hilltop which does not have the look of a residential structure. That suggests that the city possibly had not spread out to the Salt Springs area by the early 1930’s.  The park is basically a stairs to facilitate getting from the top of the hill (later location of Edgehill Road) down to Genesee Street. A different explanation might be that this could have been promoted by a real estate developer planning home building along Edgehill Road.  The homes now on Edgehill road are distinctly pre WWll in style (with the exception of a couple of ranch type infills).  Development of the Edgehill Road plots in the 1930’s could be consistent with the development of the edgehill Park and stairs in 1933.  The same developer could also have owned the park land as part of the parcel to be developed and donated the land for the park as it would have been unsuitable for development and the stairs / park would have enhanced the appeal of the development (and also relieved the developer of the tax burden of the unuseable property).  The park pics are labeled construction in 1933  which may mean that it was a WPA (Works Progress Administration) project; a Roosevelt Depression Era work project or perhaps a TERA (Temporary Emergency Relief Agency) project which was a NYS relief agency instituted in 1930 by then NYS Governor Roosevelt who realized much sooner than other state Governors that the Depression was much more serious, probably going to be of longer duration and needed public funded relief projects to sustain the country.  Thus, TERA was a prototype for the WPA and other POTUS Roosevelt administration alphabet named agencies.

The park actually extends only 10 feet on either side of the stairs.  The remaining hillside land on either side down to Genesee St belongs now to the last homeowner on either side of Edgehill Road.  The homes on Edgehill Road have build dates from as early as 1924 through 1939 and were definitely a development.  The city line 1n the 1920’s was actually a bit west of Salt Springs at Westmoreland St.   It must have moved to include the Salt Springs area by 1933. I think this lends weight to my surmise that the park was the result of some sort of deal between the city and the developer.