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St.
James Meeting House is the oldest public building in
Boardman and is included in the National Register of Historical
Places. The 170+ year-old building is not simply a treasure of
the past, but a center of activity in the Boardman Community.
In 1828 St.
James Episcopal Church was built with land and funds donated by
Henry Mason Boardman, son of founder Elijah Boardman. It is believed
to have been the oldest church in the Western Reserve of the
Northwest Territory. In 1971 the congregation moved to a larger
building on Glenwood Avenue.
The empty building was slated for demolition until the Boardman
Historical Society initiated a community-wide campaign to save the
church.
In 1972, the
church was relocated to Boardman Park and after extensive renovation
it became a popular site for weddings, baptisms, concerts and
meetings. Today the air-conditioned church seats 125 guests
and is equipped with a piano, organ, restrooms and bride's dressing
room.
 The
park purchased the Beardsley-Walter-Diehm
House and its adjoining 5 acres in 1982. Named for
its builder and major tenants, the house was built circa 1828 by
Josiah Beardsley.
The Walter
family bought the home in 1846 and held it until 1945. During
the 1920's major portions of the land land were sold in three
parcels. The remaining 123 acres were sold to the Federal
Subsistence Homestead Corporation in 1935. Seventy-two of
those acres later became Boardman Township Park.
The home's last
owners were Edgar and Maude Diehm. Mr. Diehm, a Brethren
preacher, South High School teacher, and County Court Judge, often
held court on the home's porch. The family sold the property
to the Park in 1982.
The
Oswald Detchon House was moved
to the Park from its 224 location in 1985.
Built between
1840 and 1870, the home was occupied by Oswald Detchon, a descendent
of one of Boardman's first settlers. The home is a museum for
the Boardman Historical Society.
 The
Schiller-Chuey Summer Kitchen
was given to the Park by Dr. Carl Chuery in 1985. It was built
on the Schiller family farm in New Springfield.
Originally the
structure housed a brick oven, which was used for baking in the
summertime to spare the main house from the excess heat. The
herb gardens that surround the kitchen are maintained by the Holborn
Herb Growers Guild.
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Boardman Township Park "The Green Oasis" of the Community
Boardman
Township Park is commonly known as and will remain the “Green Oasis”
of the Community. It is located in the midst of Boardman Township’s
{the 3rd largest township in the State of Ohio}
commercial development along U.S. Route 224. The
227-contiguous-acre Park is well used and appreciated by the rapidly
growing population of southern Mahoning County, not only due to its
central location and easy accessibility via area highways, but also
because of the diversity of recreational opportunities it offers, as
well as the natural beauty of its acreage. The word Oasis can be
defined as: a fertile tract in a desert; or as a haven, which is
defined as a shelter serving as a place of safety or sanctuary.
Boardman Park pursuant to its mission, provides and preserves 227
acres of fertile green space located in the heart of Boardman, Ohio,
that is not only a sanctuary for numerous species of plants and
animals, but also is a recreational haven for the Community it
serves.
On November 4,
1947 the seed from which Boardman Park, the "Green Oasis", would
grow was planted when the voters of Boardman Township overwhelmingly
approved establishment of a Township Park District. The seed may
have never been planted if it were not for the generosity of William
F. Maag, Jr. In 1946 he sought a sight for a new transmitter for
WFMJ, the broadcast station that bears his initials. With the
cooperation of the Township Trustees, a 123 acre parcel lying on the
opposite side of Boardman-Poland Road from his stately home was
purchased from the Federal government. Mr. Maag, with great
foresight, donated 72 of those acres to the community in order to
establish a community park, hence the seed was planted.
As the Township
transformed from being rural to mainly a suburban community, more
and more land was used for homes, schools, and shopping and business
centers, Park Commissioners, realizing that development was
occurring near the Park boundaries, sought to acquire land in order
to provide a buffer between the existing Park boundaries and the
all-too-near commercial and residential developments, as well as to
provide additional Park land to meet the recreational needs of the
growing community.
In 1969 the Commissioners purchased 15 acres from the Ohio Edison
Co. and one acre from the Boardman Supply Co., with both properties
located along Southern Blvd. Small land acquisitions were made in
the 1980's, with the most notable being the purchase of the home and
five acres of land from the family of Judge Edgar Diehm. This
property lies between St. James Meeting House and Toys-R-Us, and is
now the site of the Park's Historical Village. Over the last ten
years, Boardman Township has experienced a dramatic increase in
development of residential and commercial property. Coinciding with
the growth of the Township came thousands of new families to the
"Green Oasis", creating a need for additional playgrounds,
pavilions, indoor meeting rooms and perhaps, most importantly,
additional areas of natural habitat. In 1991, the Board of Park
Commissioners had sufficient funds to acquire 78 acres of land to
the south and southeast of the existing Park. This land of mostly
forest provided additional areas of natural habitat, as well as
establishing a much needed buffer along the Park's eastern and
southern boundaries.
Since 1991, the
Park Commissioners have purchased 30 acres of land from the Ohio
Edison Co. and 2.4 acres from a private estate, with both properties
lying between the Park's western boundary and the railroad corridor
of the former Youngstown & Southern Railway Co. that travels along
Southern Blvd. And, most recently, the Park Board has acquired four
acres of property from the Boardman Supply Co. that was formerly the
site of two Little League baseball fields which were maintained and
operated by Boardman Community Baseball, Inc. With great foresight,
the Board of Park Commissioners acquired these virtually treeless
properties so that the Park could better meet the ever-increasing
demands placed on them by the hundreds of thousands of annual
visitors; and, most importantly, eliminating the need to encroach on
the 167 acres of natural habitat in order to develop additional
recreational facilities to satisfy such demands.
On September 15,
1992, the Board of Park Commissioners adopted a Master Plan for the
Park District, which reflected the Mission statement: To
provide a diversity of recreational and educational opportunities in
an environment that lends itself to pleasant family experiences, and
to preserve areas of natural habitat. Pursuant to that
Mission, the Master Plan called for several capital improvements to
be made in order to better serve the recreational needs of an
ever-growing Community. Through the support and generosity of the
Community, the following improvements were realized: Kids’ Town and
Tot’s Town playgrounds, the Maag Outdoor Arts Theatre, the Elton
Beard Family Cabin, the Kenneth Hofmaster Pavilion, and the
connection of the Park District’s on-site antiquated sanitary system
to a public sanitary system. The commercial value of these much
needed improvements totals well over $2.5 million, which otherwise
the Park District’s budget alone could have not made possible.
Most importantly, the realization of these assets has been made
possible through the generosity and support of the community in
conjunction with the receipt of various state and federal grants,
clearly, demonstrating the depth and breadth of the public’s support
of the Park.
The
227-contiguous-acre Boardman Township Park is well used and
appreciated by the rapidly growing population of southern Mahoning
County, not only due to its central location and easy accessibility
via area highways, but also because of the diversity of recreational
opportunities it offers as well as the natural beauty of its
acreage. The popularity of the Park is demonstrated by the receipt
of the Town Crier’s Reader’s Choice Award. In 1998, 1999, 2000,
2002, and 2004 the Park District was awarded “The Best of the Best for Family Recreation” by the readers from Boardman, Poland,
Canfield and Austintown.
Over the years, the seed has grown into a community park, rich in
natural beauty, comprised of 227-contiguous-acres which are located
in the heart of Boardman Township. It should be acknowledged that
through the efforts of past and current Boards of Park
Commissioners, the size of the Park has more than tripled since 1947
providing areas for recreational purposes, as well as tracts of land
devoted to undisturbed natural habitat which are traversed only by
nature trails, and all the while operating within its budget and not
receiving any significant increase in real property tax revenue
since the founding of the Park District. Of the 227 acres,
approximately 60 acres are developed with a diversity of
recreational facilities: pavilions, indoor meeting rooms, tennis
courts, softball fields, sand volleyball courts, a Hike & Bike
Trail, and two of the most popular and unique children's playgrounds
in the area - Kids' Town and Tot's Town, both of which were designed
and built through the generosity of numerous individuals and
organizations for the enjoyment of all the children of our
community. The balance, 167 acres, is preserved for natural habitat,
which supports many native species of plants and animals and is an
excellent representative of Ohio's glaciated Beech/Maple forests and
lowland hardwood forests. It is these two diverse, yet balanced,
uses that truly make Boardman Township Park the "Green Oasis" of the
community.
Since its beginnings, Boardman Township Park has striven to provide
the community with a diversity of recreational and educational
opportunities, as well as to preserve areas of undisturbed natural
habitat. The Board of Park Commissioners and its staff have never
wavered from this mission. And throughout the decades they have
worked diligently to meet the recreational needs of an ever- growing
township, while serving as prudent stewards of the tax dollars
entrusted to them. Please be assured that they will continue to
pursue this mission to insure that the "Green Oasis" remains
evergreen.
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