Picture Victorian Village in 1851, when Columbus received these 37 acres as a gift for a public park. This 37-acre site was donated by Dr. Lincoln Goodale on July 14, 1851, to be used as a public park or pleasure resort. When the park opened in 1852, featuring a wooded grove of trees, it was the second largest municipal park in the country.
For a few months during the Civil War it served as a staging area for Union troops known as Camp Jackson. Today the park still anchors its neighborhood and contributes to the Near Northside Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places. Walk the borders in your mind: Buttles Avenue on the north, Park Street to the east, Goodale Street to the south, and Dennison Avenue to the west.
You can picture the pond with its fountain and the gazebo, and the modern amenities that welcome the city—four tennis courts, three pickleball courts, a basketball court, a children's playground, and a shelter house. Each June the park hosts ComFest, a large, free, multi-day, non-corporate music and arts festival. Notice the pond, the fountain, and the gazebo tucked where Union troops once mustered as Camp Jackson.