History of Washington Park
When the Moravians settled Salem in 1766, the steep hills south of Salem Creek were used for hunting. In the late 1880s, when it became fashionable to build homes on elevated land, the bluffs of Washington Park overlooking Salem from the south were considered a desirable location. F. M. Simmons, who later became a U. S. senator from North Carolina, came to Winston-Salem in the late 1880s to help establish the Winston-Salem Land Investment Company. By 1892 a development plan drawn by Jacob Lott Ludlow was officially registered in county records.
More History page 1 | page 2
Information from the National Register of Historic Places:
Architects | Development Companies | Residents | History of Winston-Salem | Ludlow's Plan | The Park | Streetcars
About The Park
On March 29, 1892, the Winston-Salem Land and Investment Company dedicated 17.2 acres of land as a park, designating it "Washington Park" on the subdivision map. There is no indication that the city paid for the land, making it the first land ever given to the city for a recreational park. The park has been expanded over the years and now contains approximately 75 acres of woodland, grassy playing fields, picnic pavilions, and a playground. An article from a 1928 Winston-Salem Journal reported on Washington Park's "green and shadowed hills, its winding walks, its leaf-flecked lakes and tumbling streams." Although the lake is long since gone, the rest of the description still applies. In the 1920s, Bleeker Reid (Mrs. Frederic) Bahnson, who lived in the house on Cascade Avenue now occupied by the chancellor of the North Carolina School of the Arts, and other members of the Twin City Garden Club planted wildflowers in the park. In 1928 the Daughters of the American Revolution erected the granite columns and arch which mark the Gloria Avenue entrance.
The interest of the neighbors in maintaining the park has never waned. The Washington Park Neighborhood Association has worked with the city over the years to renovate and renew the natural and recreational areas of the park, taking care to keep the history of the park in mind. Each year members of the association plant and maintain flowerbeds at the corners of the park along Cascade and Banner Avenues.