The Origins of Seventh Street Park

In yesterday's post, we quoted Anna Bradbury's account of the beautification of what she called the Public Square. Here's what Bradbury, quoting the minutes of the Common Council, reports about how the space originally came to be set aside for a park. 

1785, July 25th. It was voted "that one house lot on Main street should be given to Ezekiel Gilbert, as a free donation, for his essential services done the proprietors, in bringing about the incorporation of this city."

Whether Mr. Gilbert built on this lot is uncertain, but in the year 1800, he occupied a pleasant country residence standing on or near the site of the St. Charles Hotel, and gave to the city a portion of the ground for the upper Public Square, with the intention of having it laid out as a park.

Bradbury tells us that, despite Gilbert's intention, "for some inscrutable reason it was denuded of its fine old forest trees, and paved with cobblestones." This picture gives an idea of what the area that is now Seventh Street Park looked like before the efforts in 1878 to turn it into a park.