Schiller Timeline
Stewart’s Grove, owned by Francis Stewart, is the site of the Ohio State Fair. A large portion of Stewart’s Grove will one day become Schiller Park.
The City of Columbus purchases 23 acres of Stewart’s Grove and renames it City Park.
The original Umbrella Girl statue enhances the park as a drinking fountain until its disappearance between World War II and the 1950s. The mystery remains unsolved.
Monument to Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) is dedicated on July 4 with 10,000 in attendance.
City Council changes the name of the park from City Park to Schiller Park.
Schiller Park is renamed Washington Park due to anti German sentiment during World War I. Motion to remove Schiller statue not adopted.
A new caretaker’s cottage is built as part of a depression era Works Progress Administration project.
Citizens and civic leaders successfully petition City Council to reinstate the Schiller Park name.
Schiller Park Recreation Center opens.
The German Village Businessman’s Association hosts Oktoberfest in Schiller Park.
Friends of Schiller Park, the first Friends group in Columbus, is chartered. The initial priorities of planting new trees and improving the playground are accomplished in short order.
Actors’ Theatre of Columbus launches with a single performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The troupe performs on temporary staging until the amphitheater is built in 1994.
Schiller Park Masterplan by Richard Trott and Partners Architects is published.
Friends of Schiller Park, in collaboration with the German Village Society, launch a capital campaign that provides nearly $500,000 for masterplan implementation.
The Huntington Garden and the Schiller Promenade are dedicated.
A reimagined Umbrella Girl statue sculpted and contributed by Joan Wobst and a nearby hosta garden in memory of Grace Highfield are dedicated.
Schiller Park commemorates the city’s Bicentennial with Ode to Joy program and enhancements to the Schiller Monument (landscaping, lighting, signs).
President Barack Obama campaigns in Schiller Park.
Friends of Schiller Park celebrate the park’s Sesquicentennial with the publication of Schiller Park Across Time.
Five sculptures by renowned Polish artist Jerzy Kędziora are installed.