Whatever Happened To ... Children's Pavilion?

With a nod to this year's Lilac Festival, we're looking back to a once-significant part of Highland Park that has been gone for more than half a century — the Children's Pavilion.

The three-story circular pavilion stood on the highest point of the park atop Reservoir Avenue, about 500 feet northeast of the reservoir fountain. With a 62-foot diameter and at 46 feet high, the pavilion was dedicated in 1890 to provide "scenic vistas" and as a place for children to breathe clean air in Rochester, which was becoming grimier as the city grew.

Legendary landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, who designed Highland Park, and Park Commissioner George Elliott each had lost a child to cholera. The hopes for the pavilion were grandiose, as evidenced by testimonials from the dedication.

"This pavilion will, when the summer heats are beating down on the city and the smoky clouds from the chimneys are stifling the tired and weak, invite to its shade and rest and invigorating atmosphere many a heartbroken and wearied mother whose baby's wasting form warns her that its life will soon pass away unless quickly recalled," noted Bishop Bernard John McQuaid, the first bishop of the Diocese of Rochester, who presided at the pavilion-dedication ceremony. His and other comments were noted in a program available online via the Monroe County Library website.

"The young in full health will gambol on these hills, as only they can; the feeble and the old will revel here in the quietness of the place disturbed, if disturbed at all, by the bubbling fun and romping frolicsomeness of the former," McQuaid continued.

Dr. E.M. Moore, who was park commissioner at the time, noted the philanthropy of famed nurserymen George Ellwanger and Patrick Barry, who donated 20 acres to form the park and the $7,000 it cost to build the pavilion. Moore, too, noted the healthful aspects and the diseases that plagued Rochester at the time.

"Upon this miniature mountain … Ellwanger and Barry have erected for the special use of those who are the hope of the future, the children who dwell in our beautiful city, this charming little Temple of Hygeia, hoping that the splendor of the scene may attract them to its hills and valleys, where the breezes are freed from the malaria of city sewers, or the swampy exhalations of lower levels."

Fortunately, the city is much cleaner now. Highland Park has continued to be an oasis of natural beauty for Rochesterians and thousands of visitors, especially during the Lilac Festival. Over the decades, pageants, band concerts and dramatic presentations were held at what became known as the Children's Pavilion, but by 1963, the pavilion fell into disrepair and was torn down. A citizen group, the Highland Park Conservancy, has been trying for more than a decade to rebuild it.

As noted in a January 2002 Democrat and Chronicle story by James Goodman, a member of the group said, "The pavilion tied the whole park together."

"It was integral to Olmsted's design, the key destination within the park because of its expansive view," Goodman quoted a planner for the proposed new pavilion as saying in the 2002 story.

The desire to replace the pavilion remains ongoing. The group's plans are outlined on the website, www.highlandparkconservancy.org.

Monroe County Parks Director Larry Staub said the organization's reinvigorated leadership makes it more likely that it will happen, although the county thus far has not budgeted funds for the project.

"They've raised a significant amount of money, but they still have a ways to go," Staub said in late April. "I'm very confident that within a few years, we'll see a groundbreaking on this."

If so, a new "Temple of Hygeia" will rise again among the lilacs.

Morrell is a Rochester-based freelance writer.

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About this feature

"Whatever Happened To? ..." is a feature that explores favorite haunts of the past and revisits the headlines of yesteryear. It's a partnership between RocRoots.com and "Join if you're from Rochester New York" on Facebook.

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