Willow Brook Park once drew crowds near Norwalk in 1905
Residents recall Willow Brook Park as the place to go with two lakes a pavilion dance hall and a lover’s lane. It faded after 1909 as autos and new roads drew crowds away and the site was cleared for housing with Willow Brook remaining as a small wooded gully and a renamed greenhouse.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Willow Brook Park
Edna Bloxham
East Main Street
Frank Roth
Th Citizens’ Bank
John Cline
Harriet Lawton
Firelands Museum
Willow Brook
Norwalk Gilger Theatre Orchestra’s Suspenseful Opening Night
In the early 1900s Norwalk’s Gilger Theatre hosted a premiere season for a famed pit orchestra led by Thayer Stewart. Harriet Graves Lawton, the lone surviving member, recalled learning on the job as the troupe entertained road shows from 1903 to the late 1920s, before talkies and canned music ended the era.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Norwalk
Cleveland
Chicago
Harriet Graves Lawton
Gilger Theatre
Gilger
Lawton
William G. Gilger
Gardiner Music Hall
Johnny
DeWolfe Hopper
Hedda Hopper
F. B. Case
Harkness Livery Stable
Butt Harriet Lawton
Thayer Stewart
Florida
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