Levi Addison Ault (November 1851 – February 1930) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

-born American businessman and bureaucrat whose career was closely associated with the city of

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

, where he earned the nickname "Father of Cincinnati's parks".

Biography

Born in Mille Roches, Ontario, to a successful

Franco-Ontarian Franco-Ontarians (french: Franco-Ontariens or if female, sometimes known as ''Ontarois'' and ''Ontaroises'') are Francophone Canadians that reside in the province of Ontario. Most are French Canadians from Ontario. In 2016, the Government of On ...

fabric manufacturer, Ault moved to

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

in his teens, where he worked as a bookkeeper. In 1876, he moved to Cincinnati and took a job as a lampblack salesman. Two years later, Ault and his business partner Frank Wiborg incorporated Ault & Wiborg, an

ink Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Thi ...

manufacturer that became the world's top producer and supplier of inks and

lithograph Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...

supplies. In 1928, Ault sold his share in the company for $14 million ($ today) . In the mid-1920s, Ault was offered an

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

ship by

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Warren G. Harding Warren Gamaliel Harding (November 2, 1865 – August 2, 1923) was the 29th president of the United States, serving from 1921 until his death in 1923. A member of the Republican Party, he was one of the most popular sitting U.S. presidents. A ...

, but he declined. Ault was also an avid naturalist, whose passion for

parks A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

led him to join Cincinnati's parks board. He served as chair of the board from 1908 to 1926, and donated 204

acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

s (825,000 m²) of land to the city to create

Ault Park Ault Park is the fourth-largest park in Cincinnati at 223.949 acres (0.9 km²), owned and operated by the Cincinnati Park Board. It lies in the Mount Lookout neighborhood on the city's east side. The hilltop park has an overlook which comm ...

. Twenty acres (21,000 m²) not donated by Ault himself were later added to this park as well. He also donated a family property on Sheek's Island to the

Township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Ca ...

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, which also became known as

. In 1958, 28 years after Ault's death, Sheek's Island and Ault's birthplace in Mille Roches were submerged by construction on the

St. Lawrence Seaway The St. Lawrence Seaway (french: la Voie Maritime du Saint-Laurent) is a system of locks, canals, and channels in Canada and the United States that permits oceangoing vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes of North Americ ...

project. With the help of Ault's surviving family, Ault Park was rebuilt on the new river shoreline near

Long Sault Long Sault was a rapid in the St. Lawrence River upstream and west of Cornwall, Ontario. ''Sault'' is the archaic spelling of the French word ''saut'', meaning rapids. The Long Sault created a navigation barrier along the river for much of its ...

, and is home to a historical museum commemorating

The Lost Villages The Lost Villages were ten communities (nine conventional villages and a populated island) in the Canadian province of Ontario, in the former townships of Cornwall and Osnabruck (now South Stormont) near Cornwall, which were permanently subme ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ault, Levi Addison 1851 births 1930 deaths Businesspeople from Ontario Franco-Ontarian people People from the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry Pre-Confederation Canadian emigrants to the United States Businesspeople from Cincinnati Canadian-American culture in Ohio