University Circle's Central Park And Center Stage

University Circle's Central Park And Center Stage. Wade Oval. , Today Wade Oval attracts hundreds of thousands of people to University Circle, but long ago bears roamed freely here, frightening early settlers and devouring livestock. By the 1850s local resident Newell Cozad envisioned a public park and in the 1870s financier and telegraph pioneer Jeptha H. Wade Sr. made it a reality. He donated 75 acres of parkland to the city in 1882, transforming farmland and woods into Wade Park., Victorians believed parks provided a place for quiet reflection and moral health. How surprised Clevelanders from days gone by would be to see the large-scale galas held in Wade Oval today! People, places and events have turned the seven-acre area of Wade Oval into the cultural commons of University Circle, offering culture and community to locals, tourists, students, visitors and patients at area hospitals., On any day a walk around Wade Oval leads to premier cultural institutions: the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Cleveland History Center, Cleveland Museum of Art and Cleveland Botanical Garden. On special days, seasonal celebrations teem with crowds of students, residents and visitors from the region and abroad, sampling local food and dancing to live music. From the institutions surrounding the park to the beautiful space between them, Wade Oval puts the public back in public space and offers up the best of Cleveland's arts and culture., Map of Wade Park, c. 1885. , The map shows the former lake and zoo., Polar bears at Wade Park , Zoo, c. 1900. The zoo moved to Brookside Park in 1915 as this area of Wade Park welcomed the new Cleveland Museum of Art., Jeptha H. Wade Sr., the Cleveland philanthropist who, in the 19th century, created a park here and then donated it to the city for public enjoyment. Wade amassed much of his fortune in the telegraph industry., Wade Oval once was home to the Wade Park Zoo, Cleveland's first zoo, which exhibited bears, lions, deer, sea lions, elks, rabbits and other animals., Each summer, from mid-June to the end of August, Wade Oval hosts a series of free Wednesday concerts, appropriately named Wow! Wade Oval Wednesdays, showcasing the best of the Cleveland music scene., Parade the Circle and Circle Village attract tens of thousands of visitors to the Oval each June for a day of colorful costumes, giant puppets, music, food, activities and more., "Green space, arts and culture collide at Wade Oval, Cleveland's cultural commons. more than a park, it is an experience - a place to dance, skate, parade, stroll, and rock and roll." , Chris Ronayne, President, University Circle Inc., 2014, Community lantern artists and illuminated dancers lead a procession through the Cleveland Museum of Art's Environment of Lights at Holiday Circletest, a free annual Circle-wide celebration., The Rink at Wade Oval, 2015. Active year round, Wade Oval hosts an ice skating rink in the colder months.