Eden Park Reservoir, Cincinnati, Ohio

The land that Eden Park occupies today was originally owned by Nicholas Longworth, a prominent Cincinnati landowner who previously used the area as a vineyard and called the estate “the Garden of Eden” in reference to the biblical Garden of Eden. The city of Cincinnati bought the acreage from Longworth in 1869 and retained the name “Eden” for the park.

The city constructed a 12 acre, 96 million gallon reservoir that was completed in 1878. The Eden Park Station No. 7 pumped water from the Ohio River into the reservoir and then into the Eden Park Stand Pipe.

The east basin retaining wall consisted of eight elliptical arches, each spanning 55’. The length was 1,250’. The width at the base was 48.5’, tapering to 25′ on the top walk. These basins were cleaned in alternate years and everything was found from wrecked cars to suicide victims. When ever this cleaning took place municipal picnics, complete with music and dancing were held inside the empty basin. Although chemical purification of city water began in 1907 at the new water plant upriver at California, the Eden Park reservoir remained in use. In the 1960s the stone retaining wall of the lower/eastern basin was largely removed and the basin filled in for ball fields. The upper/western basin was made deeper to increase its capacity to 80,000,000 gallons. The reservoir was used until 1965 when it was covered with a shallow 3/4 acre reflecting pool.

GPS Location: 39º06’42.6″N 84º29’31.9″W