Park Hall
Park Hall, the east wing of Founder’s Hall, was named after Prof. John Gamble Park, a faculty member, administrator and trustee during the school’s early years.
The contract for Park Hall and what was eventually known as Brookhart Hall was announced in February 1966. The project’s contractor for both structures was the A.E. Knowlton Construction Company of Columbus, Ohio the heating sub-contractor was Bougham Brothers, Inc., and the electrical sub-contractor was Reynolds Electric, both of Lima, Ohio.
The hall was named in Fall 1973.
Biography
John Gamble Park was born September 20, 1849 near Orange Township in Hancock County, Ohio. He attended Dr. Lehr’s “select school,” the predecessor of Ohio Northern University, in 1868 and later joined the faculty. On July 27, 1875, he married Lida Wilson.
In the course of his long career at Northern he served the university as a faculty member, an administrator and a trustee. He taught English Grammar, Composition, and Logic from 1871 to 1898. From 1907 to 1913, he taught English Grammar, Analysis and Logic. He served as a Trustee from 1873 to 1898 and as Vice President from 1880 to 1898. Other duties included that of Recording Secretary for the university 1897-98, Secretary 1872-83, 1885-96 and Librarian 1872-74.
Professor Park was also associated with numerous business endeavors in Ada. In the Spring of 1879, he and his brother acquired a large brick warehouse. In 1885, Park Bros. and a James Shaw purchased the Ada Flowering Mill which they ran for roughly a year. Prof. Park sold his warehouse interest in 1885. In later years, he was a director and stockholder of the Liberty Bank.
Prof. Park died on March 15, 1914 and was buried in Ada’s Woodlawn Cemetary.
