Slow Roll Week Two: Gordon Park

Gordon Park was created more than 130 years ago as a gift to the city by grocery and iron ore magnate William J. Gordon, who bequeathed his 122-acre estate on the condition that it forever remain free and open to the public. Today it represents a complicated challenge.

The park, which formerly stretched to the shores of Lake Erie and includes parts which are now incorporated into the Cleveland Lakefront Reserve, was once a popular location for swimming and included a large public beach, a favorite with locals. Post-war pollution put an end to that, along with the construction of a dredge disposal site just east of the park. Re-alignment of I-90 in the 60s literally cut the park in two; today only a narrow pedestrian bridge connects the northern part of Gordon Park to its southern half. Its main attraction, the old Cleveland Aquarium, moved to The Flats decades…