A Brief History of Thornden Park

The land which would become Thornden Park was farmed by Zebulon Ostrom until he sold the property to James P. Haskins around 1850. Haskins, who was a salt industry pioneer in Syracuse and an investor in Pennsylvania coal mines, began transforming the property into an estate. He increased his original 15-acre holding into its present 76-acre size, expanded a cottage on the property into a sizable wood-and-stucco manor house (which would burn down in 1929), built winding roads and planted many trees and decorative gardens around the property. Haskins' chief gardener, William Harradance, built a greenhouse on the site where the Carriage House stands today.

Only a few years after moving onto the property, however, Haskins' young wife died in childbirth, and he was devastated, becoming a virtual recluse on the estate until he took his own life in 1873. A ghost was said to be seen wandering around the park for years afterward.

In 1875, Major Alexander H. Davis, the son of one of Haskins's business partners, purchased the property. Though born in America, Davis was very proud of his English heritage, and he developed the property as an English country estate.

Davis continued to improve the Tudor-style manor house. His chief gardener, David Campbell, saw that the grounds around the house were kept manicured, with a clipped lawn and groves of shade trees, geometric flower gardens and specimen plants. However, much of the rest of the landscape followed the natural topography of the site. Structures on the estate at this time included greenhouses, outbuildings and stables, none of which remain today. To the south of the manor house stretched farm fields, orchards, a trout pond, and a hunting park. Davis even had Campbell design a small nine-hole golf course on the estate, which was the first golf course in Syracuse. A collector of trees, Davis imported and planted rare European specimens such as kilmarnock willow and weeping beech. By the time landscape improvements were completed, the estate was one of the most dramatic and extensive in the area.

In 1887, Major Davis ran for the U.S. Congress, only to be defeated by James Belden, reportedly in part because voters were suspicious of his affection for England and English culture. Bitter over his defeat, Davis moved to England in 1890, renouncing his U.S. citizenship. Davis eventually sold all of his American assets except Thornden, which he still owned upon his death in 1910.

Transition For City and Estate (1890 - 1920)

David Campbell, Thornden's head gardener, managed the estate until the death of Major Davis in 1910. The family then granted him a ten-year lease on the property. Campbell, who had become Superintendent of Syracuse City Parks in 1902 continued to live on the property. During World War I, Thornden's farm fields produced wheat and vegetables in "Victory Gardens" for sale to the local community.

As Syracuse began to grow around it at the turn of the century, the Thornden estate began to attract attention as a site for residential subdivisions. However, the city Chamber of Commerce formed a "Committee of Fifty" to examine the feasibility of turning Thornden into a city park. These leaders recognized the need for a public open space in this steadily-growing part of the city. They realized that Thornden could not only provide an ideal place for passive activities like walks and quiet reflection in a natural setting, but also provide structured programs of sports, games, and other activities for Syracuse residents. They outlined their case for Thornden in a 1921 brochure which was distributed to all city residents: "It stands as a park ready made. Not in fifty or a hundred years could an undeveloped piece of land be converted into such an ideal breathing spot."

Thornden Becomes A Park (1921)

The Committee's arguments were persuasive, and the city purchased the Thornden estate from the Davis family on December 13, 1921 for $225,000. In creating the new park, designers (who likely included David Campbell) were careful to respect the property's unique natural character. As much as possible, planners tried to fit facilities into the landscape, rather than reshaping the land. Picnic grounds and walking trails shared the landscape with formal gardens and active recreation facilities, which were located in the center of the old estate. The southern two-thirds of the property, which had been farmland, was planted with thousands of trees to create a naturalistic setting.

The Davis Mansion Burns Down (1929)

Work began in 1927 to remodel the old Davis home as a community center. This building was to be used by various civic and neighborhood organizations, and as a center for indoor park activities. Two years later, as work on the house was nearly completed, on December 10, 1929, the building burned down. Caretakers, who were spending only their second night in the house, escaped the blaze unharmed.

Recent History

By the 1960s, facilities at Thornden Park had begun to show signs of wear and neglect. Budget cuts drastically reduced the city's ability to maintain such a large and complex public landscape. Staff was reduced as well, diminishing the variety and quality of programmed activities. Crime and vandalism in the park increased. A further blow to the park's vitality was the onset of dutch elm disease, which decimated the dominant tree species at Thornden. By 1977, over 600 trees had been removed from the park. Replanting efforts substituted a number of species, predominantly norway and silver maples, to replace the elms.

During the 1960s, strong neighborhood support kept Thornden from deteriorating to the level of some of the city's other major parks. In 1964, the Thornden Park Neighborhood Council organized a major summer festival to encourage the use of the park by area residents and to create a sense of neighborhood responsibility for the park.

Despite further city budget cuts in the 1970s, the Parks Department continued to provide recreational youth programs and to make improvements to park facilities. Among the improvements, a new children's playground was installed in 1976, new tennis and basketball courts built in 1977, and picnic shelters added in 1979.