Schiller Timeline

1864 & 1865

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.

1867

The City of Columbus purchases 23 acres of Stewart’s Grove and renames it City Park.

1872

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.

1891

Monument to Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) is dedicated on July 4 with 10,000 in attendance.

1905

City Council changes the name of the park from City Park to Schiller Park.

1918

Schiller Park is renamed Washington Park due to anti German sentiment during World War I. Motion to remove Schiller statue not adopted.

1930

A new caretaker’s cottage is built as part of a depression era Works Progress Administration project.

1930

Citizens and civic leaders successfully petition City Council to reinstate the Schiller Park name.

1917

Schiller Park Recreation Center opens.

1967 - 1971

The German Village Businessman’s Association hosts Oktoberfest in Schiller Park.

1981

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.

1982

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.

1988

Schiller Park Masterplan by Richard Trott and Partners Architects is published.

1991

Friends of Schiller Park, in collaboration with the German Village Society, launch a capital campaign that provides nearly $500,000 for masterplan implementation.

1993

The Huntington Garden and the Schiller Promenade are dedicated.

1996

A reimagined Umbrella Girl statue sculpted and contributed by Joan Wobst and a nearby hosta garden in memory of Grace Highfield are dedicated.

2012

Schiller Park commemorates the city’s Bicentennial with Ode to Joy program and enhancements to the Schiller Monument (landscaping, lighting, signs).

2012

President Barack Obama campaigns in Schiller Park.

2017

Friends of Schiller Park celebrate the park’s Sesquicentennial with the publication of Schiller Park Across Time.

2022

Five sculptures by renowned Polish artist Jerzy Kędziora are installed.

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