Courtesy of City of Grove City
In the 1980s, as the quincentennial of Christopher Columbus’ first steps in the Americas approached, his namesake city made plans for a celebration to put Ohio’s capital on the map: AmeriFlora.
The organizers billed the 1992 festival as the first international flower show in America. At a cost of nearly $100 million, AmeriFlora helped to revitalize Franklin Park Conservatory and establish the Topiary Park downtown. It also left a mark on Grove City in the form of the Gardens at Gantz Farm.
Today, the gardens are a staple attraction in central Ohio, serving to educate visitors, preserve history and offer beautiful scenery right here in Grove City.
That’s thanks in large part to the foresight of those who helped plan the gardens, says Mayor Richard L. “Ike” Stage. James Utzinger, a horticulture professor at The Ohio State University and head of the gardens steering committee, was instrumental in imagining that future.
“It was being designed and built for perpetuity,” Stage says. “He wanted to make sure this was around for his grandchildren as an educational experience.”
Though Utzinger died in 1990 shortly before the garden’s completion, the project has more than lived up to his vision.
The Gardens at Gantz, which now fills a quarter acre of the 27-acre Gantz Park, contains three themed gardens – Garden of Yesterday, Garden of Today and Garden of Tomorrow – and a labyrinth patterned courtyard.
“Part of what we were looking for was to beautify the park and put something unique in the park that would be, not only time period responsible, but something that would be nice for the community,” says Grove City Parks and Recreation Director Kim Conrad. “But I think second fold was to be an educational piece for the community.”
Just as early architects envisioned, the gardens continue to offer classes for people of all ages, covering topics from gardening for beginners to creating floral wreaths and pickling vegetables. Other programming includes a plant sale and Garden Sprouts youth gardening group.
“The herb gardens over at Gantz Park are kind of like the crown jewel of our department,” Conrad says. “They provide a niche for children and adults in the community.”
Historic Roots
The gardens center on a historic farmhouse built by Adam Gantz around 1830. He and his wife, Catherine, lived in the farmhouse on a 100-acre parcel of land he had purchased for the meager sum of $7.50, according to the Southwest Franklin County Historical Society.
When Blodwen Gantz, the last family member to live in the farmhouse, passed away in 1973, a little shy of 10 acres of the Gantz homestead was donated to the City of Grove City under the condition that it be made into a public park.
National Register of Historic Places recognized the building in 1979, but the property was far from the state it’s in today.
“The farm was in really bad condition,” says garden education coordinator Gloria Hartung. “I say this jokingly, but it was kind of like the haunted house in the area, the one teenagers would dare themselves to come up to.”
It took a concerted effort by community members to prevent the house from being torn down. Karen Gunderman, then head of the Grove City History Department, led an effort that included Utzinger, garden clubs, the Southwest Franklin County Historical Society and others. T-shirts were made and Mayor Robert E. Evans even cooked brats and hot dogs at one fundraiser.
They raised enough money to save the home, but not enough to restore it to its former glory. The Grove City Parks & Recreation Department moved into the building, which still maintains features of the original. A narrow staircase with small steps leads to a second story with a fireplace – a rare luxury when the home was built. That space now serves as a storage room for the garden’s programming materials.
An opportunity to connect even deeper with history would soon present itself.
When Stage began his first term as Mayor in 1988, he continued working at Huntington National Bank. As the company took interest in the prospect of AmeriFlora coming to central Ohio, Stage saw potential for Grove City.
“Knowing how broad that program would be, I volunteered Grove City to be a part of the AmeriFlora project,” he says. “Then we had to figure out what we were going to do.”
Utzinger and the steering committee initially imagined a garden space replicating what would have existed at the time of the farmhouse’s construction.
“The original thing was they were going to have a kitchen garden like an 1840s farm wife would have,” Hartung says, “but everybody had all these ideas and the garden just kind of expanded.”
That became the Garden of Yesterday, which features multi-use heirloom herbs. Those herbs have uses for medicinal purposes, color dying and fragrances. The Garden of Today separates plants by their main individual use, while the Garden of Tomorrow emphasizes the landscape and sensory function of its plants.
The seeds planted at both Gantz Park and its gardens have continued to grow over the years. In addition to the garden’s offerings, the park features a playground, large shelter and walking and biking paths – Stage frequently cycles there. The parks and recreation department estimates some 10,000 visitors each year.
“People can bring their dogs here, they can bring their 2-year-olds here,” Hartung says. “There’s something for everyone. And there’s a lot more in the park than just the gardens.”
Cameron Carr is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at ccarr@cityscenemediagroup.com.
