On this date 100 years ago the Pantagraph reported the work of the Woman's Club which was providing a park on the west side of the city. At about this time in history, according to the newspaper article, there was an interest in providing children with a safe place to play. Since the school playgrounds could not be opened during the vacation period, it was up to the Parent Teacher Organization and Woman's Club to fill the gap. Playgrounds were easily arranged for the children on the east side of the town, but once that was done, the women did not stop.
The Woman's Club approached the city and asked whether the pasture on the west side could be used for a children's playground. The city gave permission and the women dubbed it O'Neil's Park and began to finance its amusements with a tag sale. The paper merely says that boys sold the tags in the streets and does not indicate why one would buy one, except to support the Woman's Club.
With the money from the tag sale and funds that were already in their kitty, the women bought swings, tennis nets, racquets, teeter totters, sand, bats and balls and a wading pool. They also hired a responsible person to over see the play of the children.
This work was recognized in the Ladies Home Journal in 1915 as well.