T.R. Proctor Park: Short History

Children’s Day at Thomas R. Proctor Park, 1907, featuring an air balloon.

This park is on the site of a farm used to raise food for historic Bagg’s Hotel, which Thomas R. Proctor bought after moving to Utica in 1869. In the 1870s, in response to a number of requests from the public, he opened one part of this property, known as Silver Spring Glen (an area unusable for farming), to the Uticans seeking a beautiful spot for picnicking; the historic entrance to the Park, located at the intersection of Culver Avenue and Girard Street, is where visitors once entered the glen.

After the land ceased to be used as a farm, Proctor opened it to the public for use as a park in 1899, but he initially retained it as his personal property. It became known as “the children’s park,” partly because it was always intended to be a location for playing fields on which children could engage in healthful exercise. However, people soon began calling it “Thomas Proctor’s park,” and the name stuck. Proctor laid out this former farm as a park without input from Olmsted, who began working with Proctor 7 years after this park was opened in 1899.

The park was founded as what is known as a “reform park” because late nineteenth and early twentieth century reformers believed that if poor and working-class children had greater access to areas in which to play and get fresh air, they would grow up physically and morally healthier and that this would help reform society and bolster democracy.

It was donated to the people of Utica on the same day as was Roscoe Conkling Park, July 3, 1909

The dedication marker on Culver Avenue at T.R. Proctor Park, which marks the entry not only to the park but to its precursor, the Silver Spring Glen.