South Park is a 24-block, 150-acre area of more than 780 structures primarily dating from the 1880s to the early twentieth century. It is located south of downtown

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

, just north of the

University of Dayton The University of Dayton (UD) is a private, Catholic research university in Dayton, Ohio. Founded in 1850 by the Society of Mary, it is one of three Marianist universities in the nation and the second-largest private university in Ohio. The univ ...

campus and

Woodland Cemetery Woodland Cemetery may refer to: * Woodland cemetery, a type of cemetery or it may refer to specific places: in Sweden * Skogskyrkogården (The Woodland Cemetery) in Stockholm, Sweden in the United States (by state) * Woodland Cemetery (Quincy, I ...

, and east of

Miami Valley Hospital Miami Valley Hospital (MVH) is a large urban hospital in Dayton, Ohio, and is a member of the Premier Health Partners network. The hospital has two additional locations; Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville, Ohio, and Miami Valley Hospital ...

. Mainly residential in character, South Park is significant because of the variety of its architecture, which includes vernacular, cottage, and high style examples, and because of its association with John H. Patterson, founder of the National Cash Register Company.

Slidertown and Patterson

Children in the gardens of the National Cash Register Company, Dayton, Ohio LOC agc

When Patterson began to develop his factory complex on South Main Street, the area now called South Park was a neighborhood of shacks and shanties called Slidertown. Patterson began to have trouble with boys from Slidertown who broke the glass windows on his new factory, and so, determined to give the boys something else to do by sponsoring community gardens and other beautification projects for the neighborhood. Eventually South Park developed into a pleasant, garden-filled community where factory workers lived side by side with supervisors and Patterson's right-hand men. The late

Frederick Law Olmsted Frederick Law Olmsted (April 26, 1822August 28, 1903) was an American landscape architect, journalist, social critic, and public administrator. He is considered to be the father of landscape architecture in the USA. Olmsted was famous for co- ...

, walking along the streets of this quarter, declared that, considering the size of the lots, it was the most beautiful street he had ever seen. Until the advent of the automobile enabled NCR workers to move further afield, the neighborhood continued to be associated with Patterson's firm, and many company picnics and other functions took place on Park Drive Boulevard in the heart of the district.

Historic district

On August 23, 1984, South Park was registered on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

, bounding streets Park Dr., Morton Ave., Hickory St., and Wayne Ave. (No. 84003794). On July 16, 1988, this expanded to encompass Wyoming St., Nathan Pl., Oak St., Alberta St. and Blaine St. (No. 88000857). City of Dayton Ordinance #26219. In 2007, South Park was chosen by the Dayton chapter of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to s ...

as its community partner. This resulted in the creation of housing designs and landscaping concepts consistent with South Park's participation in Rehabarama in both 2001 and 2007. Actor

Martin Sheen Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez (born August 3, 1940), known professionally as Martin Sheen, is an American actor. He first became known for his roles in the films ''The Subject Was Roses'' (1968) and ''Badlands'' (1973), and later achieved wid ...

was born in Dayton and raised in the South Park neighborhood on Brown Street.

Architecture

Structures

The architecture of South Park includes examples of

Second Empire Second Empire may refer to: * Second British Empire, used by some historians to describe the British Empire after 1783 * Second Bulgarian Empire (1185–1396) * Second French Empire (1852–1870) ** Second Empire architecture, an architectural styl ...

High Victorian High Victorian Gothic was an eclectic architectural style and movement during the mid-late 19th century. It is seen by architectural historians as either a sub-style of the broader Gothic Revival style, or a separate style in its own right. Promo ...

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

, Queen Anne, Federal and

Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

in one- and two-story structures of brick and frame. South Park still preserves a sense of close-knit neighborhood whose residents cooperate to maintain the many neighborhood parks which give the district its special flavor.

Landscape

Commissioned by Patterson,

John Charles Olmsted John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920), was an American landscape architect. The nephew and adopted son of Frederick Law Olmsted, he worked with his father and his younger brother, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., in their father's firm. After their fath ...

was responsible for the layout of Park Drive's landscape. This boulevard once adorned a fountain centerpiece and waterway running through its middle.

References

External links

South Park Historic District

Preservation Dayton

City of Dayton's Official Website

John Charles Olmsted Website
{{authority control National Register of Historic Places in Montgomery County, Ohio Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Ohio

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand ...

NCR Corporation