The History of South Roanoke’s Parks

by Nelson Harris

The creation of South Roanoke Park, now known as The River’s Edge Sports Complex, began with a letter dated November 14, 1935, from Junius Blair Fishburn and Junius Parker Fishburn to Mayor Sydney Small and the City Council about the Fishburns acquiring and then donating the 28 acres of land that now comprise the park. At the time of the letter, 25 acres were owned by the Adams, Payne & Gleaves Company, which had earlier purchased the property from the Roanoke Brick Company. The remaining three acres, nearest Jefferson Street, were still in the possession of the Crystal Spring Land Company. The Fishburns had obtained an option from Adams, Payne & Gleaves to purchase their 25 acres for $15,000 and conveyed to the mayor and council that the Crystal Spring Land Company was willing to donate their land to the city if the entire combined parcel would be used by the city for “park and playground purposes.” The Fishburns outlined some conditions and expectations of the city in

their letter, namely that the city would immediately implement plans for the park, assume the legal work for the various deed transfers,

and would name the park “South Roanoke Park and Playground.” The Fishburns concluded, “In our opinion, this property offers the very best, if not the only chance, for a park and playground of real size and usefulness to South Roanoke and to a large portion of the southwest.” In transmitting the letter to the council, Mayor Small indicated he had assured the Fishburns of the council’s receptivity to the offer, and, as expected, the council unanimously endorsed the plan and directed the administration to proceed in securing

the donation. A few months thereafter, the city retained the services of Alfred A. Farnham, a landscape architect, to develop long-term plans for

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She Said... Does anyone remember the Milton Bradley board game “Go to the Head of the Class”? We recently unearthed this childhood relic at my mom’s house and gave it a go on family game night (a recent addition to the entertainment rotation at our home which thus far has garnered mixed reviews). Go to the Head of the Class made its debut around 1940. It is a traditional roll the dice, advance around the board type game. The spaces you land on are school desks aligned in rows with each row representing a grade from Kindergarten through eighth grade. When you land on a desk, you have the opportunity to answer an age-appropriate question from the supplied booklet. If you get it right, you advance 6 desks; if you are incorrect, you go back two. Thrown into the mix are color-coded desks that require you to pick a chance card that affects your schoolroom fate. The object of the game is to be the first to make it through eighth grade. The edition of the game we played is from 1975. Over the years, more than 25 editions of Go to the Head of the Class have been made. The artwork has gone through several iterations since the stereotypical 1970s family pictured on our version of the game. I can only hope and assume that the question book has been updated, as well as the cast of characters used as gamepieces. Our version hosts a very homogenous, rosy-cheeked crew that includes Mommy, Daddy, Sis, Brother, Susie, Bonnie, Butch, and the random outlier, Cowboy Joe. Cowboy Joe’s winking eye lets you know he is up to no good and is the pupil most likely to pull Susie’s pink-bowed braids and bombard the classroom with spitballs. It was interesting to see who chose which pawn in our family. My daughter, Juliana, insisted I be “Mommy” even though I balked that I am always the mommy and would like to try another character for a change; likewise, her dad had to be “Daddy” but he did not complain and I suspect this is because he was trying to lie low to make the game go quicker. My mom chose Susie (perhaps a nod to her own childhood tresses, often worn in braids?). Juliana chose Bonnie, the gamepiece that most resembled her and also wore a hairband in her favorite color, yellow. Charles chose Cowboy Joe; deduce from this what you will. The question booklet had us laughing and musing about how what we learn in school has changed in 40 years. The Junior level was mostly simple though I will say that in the history category I cannot imagine many modern kids would be able to tell you in what war John Pershing was a general (A: WW I). The Intermediate level dated itself with questions such as “The old Russian city of Petrograd is now known as what city?” (A: Leningrad of course!). For the Seniors, there were three separate categories devoted to composers, one of these solely to composers of musical theater (fortunately, our family loves a musical). Interestingly, all three levels had a Bible category, which would give parochial school students and attentive Sunday school attendees an edge. I think the funniest moment was when my mom, who has already been posed numerous stumpers, was posed the question, “What is the national anthem of Ecuador?”, not only because we all were clueless but also because the provided answer was in English (A: Hail, O Fatherland) and not Spanish (Salve, Oh Patria!). What will the 2015 version of Go to the Head of the Class look like? The 2055 edition? I likely could fill another page with some thoughts on that but it’s my turn to roll the dice... — LKM

Lillian King Meidlingereditor, right brainlillian@southroanokecircle.com761.0728

Lisa Boschen Bowersadvertising executive, left brainlisa@southroanokecircle.com353.2380

Amy Takacs, Creative Outletgraphic designeramy@creative-outlet.com

Johnny Meidlingerinternet kung fu

Jill Hufnagel & Brent Stevensfounders, creative consultants

The South Roanoke Circle2517 S. Jefferson StreetRoanoke VA 24014540.353.2380

southroanokecircle.com

Our intent is to provide a neighborhood publication that celebrates community and fosters connection among neighbors. In so doing, we seek to strengthen the neighborhood bond, to encour-age our children to share their voices, and to nurture a future of collective growth. Finally, we wish to share in the discovery of the people and places that make this neighborhood thrive.

~The South Roanoke Circle is a community paper written by an array of voices. Articles represent the thoughts and opinions of the authors who write them. We welcome submissions and ideas for articles; please e-mail the editor at lillian@southroanokecircle.com.

We reserve the right to refuse publication of any material we deem unsuitable for this venue and/or our readership.

copyright 2015The South Roanoke Circle, LLC

all rights reserved.

Annika Plunkett (left) and Anders Plunkett (above) clamber on anddangle from a neighborhood tree on a gorgeous fall day in SoRo. Photos by Kerstin Plunkett

Fall Frolic

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As I write this we are still in the middle of ghost and goblin season and everything is pumpkin spiced, but by the time this Circle lands on your porch it will be turkey time. Without sounding too much like a Hallmark card, I try to take some time each year to reflect and give thanks in the spirit of the season. So here are some things I’m grateful for this Thanksgiving: First, the obvious thanks for good health: two eyes for looking, two ears for listening, and two legs for lurching up and down Jefferson Street. More specifically I’m glad I’ve been able to get this forty-eight year-old body to move around enough to lose twenty-five pounds over the last month or so. I see people half my age that look like they can barely drag themselves from the car to the counter at Hardees–oh wait, most never bother to get out of the car at all–so honestly I am quite pleased with myself in this regard. Diet and exercise helped, plus my wife took note of my late summer pudge, so I became her first Advocare customer. I’m thankful that Election Day is almost here. First, so that I can exercise one of the most important rights we have as American citizens, to vote for a candidate of my choice; but more so because the political ads will mercifully stop for a while. Not for long, of course, since we are heading into a presidential election year. I wish we could do like some other countries where the Prime Minister says, “Hey, I think we should have an election,” and somehow within a month it’s all over. No research was done to back up that statement; I just know our political campaign cycles are way too long. For that matter, it’s time we move our local city elections from May to November so we only have to endure the noise once. It should improve voter turnout in local races as well. I’m thankful for the state of Delaware. Why? When I was a kid we took a lot of road trips and I was always captivated looking for out-of-state license plates. My older brother lived in Delaware in the mid-70s, so I’ve been there many times. Forty years later Delaware still has the same license plate design. You see that plate, you know it’s Delaware. I saw one at 5:15 one morning on the way to a workout. Maybe I was just distracting myself to stay awake, but for some reason I appreciated their consistency. Yes, per The Google, Delaware has some specialty plates, but it doesn’t seem that they try to accommodate every interest, hobby, alma mater, club, or organization like Virginia does. I mean once you have a plate for the “Horse Enthusiast”, I think you’ve pretty well covered everyone. Speaking of horses, I’m pleased that I was able to spend twelve action-packed, fun-filled days in Costa Rica with family and friends this summer. I would go back tomorrow if I could. If you ever get the chance, it’s a trip well worth taking. Beautiful country, super nice people, and extra chill dogs wherever you go. Seriously, the dogs just lie there. Except for the two that decided to have a brawl right beneath the horse I was sitting on. Good thing they also have really

chill horses in Costa Rica. I’m thankful that the New York Mets have made this one of the most exciting baseball seasons I can remember. Sorry Cubs fans!I’m thankful for my lovely wife and her sense of humor. She’s an optimist like her father, whereas I’m more of a worrier, like my mother. Our son seems to be a combo (we called him “50/50” when he was a toddler). He’s pretty laid back, but he’s anxious about getting places early. Hopefully he will be driving in two or three years. If so and he is running the swim carpool, I expect he will leave you behind if you’re not waiting on the porch. I’m happy that Noah is still willing to play ping pong with

Dear Old Dad. I always enjoy that, even though he beats me about two of every three games. It’s really just about doing things together, anyway. Sometimes he even talks! Because asking “How was school?” when he first gets home generally elicits no information at all. As the autumn air starts getting chilly, I’m always thankful for our nice warm house, although, as of October 25 I have not turned on the heat yet.

I’m nervous because our boiler was acting up last year and I had to reach underneath and push a tiny, impossible-to-find little button to get it to fire up. If I have to buy a new boiler, as I write the big check I can be thankful that I won’t have to do that anymore. Finally, as The South Roanoke Circle approaches its 10th Thanksgiving, I’m grateful for the Circle staff, advertisers, and most importantly, the readers! I hope all of you have plenty to be thankful for yourselves, and if the Circle is one small item on your list, well,

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It is that time of year when students are completing their college applications, and one of their big decisions concerns what college or university is the right college or university. Big school or little school, public or private, close to home or far away are all questions being asked. I won’t bore you by attempting to answer each of these questions, but I do want to put in a plug for the frequently embattled liberal arts college. We are blessed in Roanoke to have two fine liberal arts institutions in Roanoke College and Hollins University, and Virginia has a longstanding tradition of supporting liberal arts education. Venerable institutions like Washington and Lee, with its storied traditions of college leadership, and Hampden-Sydney, one of only three all-male colleges left in the country, should attract the interest of many local students. Up-and-comer liberal arts college Christopher Newport University has made impressive strides in national rankings in the last few years. However, I often find students focused only on those schools that have a specific major for which they are looking. “School X has a great physical therapy school or school Y has the dietary science major I am looking for.” Conversely they may say, “Liberal arts college X does not have the major I am looking for.” My response, typical for an old guy, is to tell the students that I went to a liberal arts college to major in history, never took a history course in four years, majored in geology, got a Master’s Degree in geology, and I now utilize all of my geological knowledge as a private school headmaster. My life definitely did not follow the plans I had as a 17-year-old high school senior, and I believe my experience is more common than we think. It makes sense that parents and students focus on majors. Since the great recession, news article after news article has come out touting the demise of the liberal arts college and the need to major in a profession, such as engineering, to ensure oneself of a job upon graduation. You must justify the increased cost of a college education by a career. After all, if you look at the list of schools with graduates receiving the highest starting salaries, the majority of schools on that list are engineering schools like MIT, Cal Tech, and Carnegie-Mellon. But dig a little deeper and you will notice that when you compare mid-career salaries, more than half of the colleges and universities on the list are liberal arts colleges or universities. What happens between starting salaries and mid-career salaries to elevate the standing of so many liberal arts institutions? Careers happen, that is what! Capable graduates from the best liberal arts college may begin at lower salaries than engineers, but the broad and varied skill sets they learn better prepare them for advancement to leadership positions. When taken a as percentage of total students, liberal arts college graduates are far more likely to become a CEO, COO, or CFO. Can it be that a liberal arts education is the key to gaining the keys to the executive washroom?

Before you get too angry with me, I am not dismissing large research universities like Virginia Tech or UVA as being unfit for your children. And I only wish my children were going to be engineers. I am only trying to make the point that the traditional argument that professional undergraduate majors are the best way to ensure future financial success may have a few flaws. So what is it that makes a liberal arts education such a Petrie dish for future corporate leaders? For my answer, I turn to Pat Bassett, the former Executive Director of the National Association of Independent Schools, and one of the smartest guys I have ever met. A disclaimer: Pat Bassett went to Williams College, perhaps the best liberal arts college in the country. Pat always said that the very best teacher to hire is a graduate from a good liberal arts college because they understand what a good education requires. He knew that at a liberal arts college, students would be taught by professors in smaller classrooms. They would be asked to answer questions, to demonstrate they had done their reading, to write critically, and to expect their writing to be closely read. He knew that the key to an education was the relationship between the professor and the student and that critical thinking could only be developed in an environment where a student is tested. And I don’t mean a multiple-choice test graded via Scantron, I mean the fill in two blue book kind of tests. I mean the “you are really excited about passing your rhetoric examination on the first try” kind of examination. Pat knows these skills are available in almost any college or university but he also knows that in good liberal arts colleges can you be assured that every graduate is exposed to these skills. And in just the same way these skills make for good teachers, once transferred to the corporate world, they also provide for success in the boardroom. Pat speaks of the “5 C’s plus one,” but I will use my liberal arts education to call that the 6 C’s. These six characteristics–communication, collaboration, critical thinking, creativity, character, and something he terms cosmopolitanism–are required for a good education. Perhaps each one is fodder for future columns but I pass them on to the reader, along with a link to a TED Talk that Pat gave at St. George’s School, in hopes that they may inform your college decisions. Don’t get hung up on the major or the quality of the football team, look for the college or university that best provides these six characteristics. TED Talks presentation by Pat Bassett: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0cqrhvgBB0 Dr. Christian Proctor has been Headmaster of North Cross School for three years and has over 23 years of experience in education. His time in the field has been marked by creativity, innovation, and school growth. A native of Chapel Hill, NC, Dr. Proctor and his wife, Ellie, have two children; Katherine, a college senior, and Andrew, a college freshman.

The Merits of a Liberal Arts Education

Education Matters by Dr. Christian Proctor

7

the development and beautification of the area. A local garden club donated shrubs and trees, and citizens gave input as to amenities for the park. One suggestion was presented by Paul C. Buford, who presented a petition to the City Council in October 1937 of South Roanoke signatories, advocating for the creation of a cement roller-skating rink in the park complete with curbing that would allow it to be flooded in the winter for conversion to ice-skating. Fern Park, formerly known as Wildwood Park, was deeded as a gift to the city by Junius and Grace Fishburn on January 15, 1943. The 9.06 acres was in keeping with the Fishburn family’s numerous other gifts of land to the city for municipal parks and recreation areas. Fern Park, however, and the dirt road (Wildwood Road) that ran through it was reputedly a common route used by Franklin County moonshiners to avoid revenue agents during the 1930s and early 40s. That particular route happened to pass by the home of the Fishburns’ son on present-day Jefferson Street who, along with many others in the neighborhood, was tired of the disturbance such activity created. Thus, the backstory is that the Fishburns donated the property to the city for a park thereby closing the “road.” The Fishburns had acquired the land from John Norman the previous year. On January 18, 1943, City Council passed a resolution of appreciation to the Fishburns for the donated parcel. While the city uses only about one acre of the parcel for actual playground or recreational purposes, the park does preserve a valued wooded area for the neighborhood. City records do not indicate when the name formally changed from Wildwood to Fern Park; however in city records of 1948 the land was called by its current designation.

— Continued from front cover

Neighborhood Events for November

October 27-November 28: The Market Gallery features Elaine Fleck (downtown)

November 3: Election Day; No school for students of Roanoke City Schools

November 5-8, various times: 5th Annual Celebrating Art: Featuring Local Artists (St. John’s Episcopal Church), for more information visit

www.cyproanoke.org

November 6, beginning at 5:30: Art by Night (downtown)

November 6-7 and 13-14, 7:00PM: Stardust plays at Patrick Henry High School

November 7, 11:00AM: Virginia Veterans Parade (Elmwood Park)

November 8 (3:00) and 9 (7:30PM): Roanoke Symphony Orchestra presents Concerti and Classic Favorites (Jefferson Center)

November 13-15: 27th Annual Stocked Market (Berglund Center), for more information visit https://www.jlrv.org/?nd=stocked_market

November 14 (10:00-4:00): Roanoke Valley Model Engineers Open House (Virginia Museum of Transportation), for more information visit

rvmehome.org

November 23: ROA’s Elmwood on Ice (new ice skating rink) opens for the season, for more information, visit www.downtownroanoke.org/

events/elmwood-on-ice

November 25-27: Thanksgiving Holiday for students of Roanoke City Schools (2-hour early dismissal on 11/25)

November 27: 10th Annual Drumstick Dash 5K and Family Fun Walk (visit drumstickdash.net for more information)

Registration now open for our 2016 Spring Event!

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CITY LEAF COLLECTION The City will begin collecting leaves in biodegradable paper leaf bags (no limit) starting the week of Nov. 16 on regular trash collection days. Leaves in plastic bags will not be collected. Additional leaf collections will take place the weeks of Nov. 30 and Dec. 14.

IMPORTANT CHANGE IN CITY WASTE COLLECTION Plastic-bagged or boxed trash is no longer an allowable bulk item. These items will be NOT be collected by the city and are considered a code violation. Also, Small amounts of brush (less than 4’x4’x4’) must be placed in your trash container for collection. Larger brush piles–at least 4’x4’x4’ but no larger than 6’x6’x6’–should be placed at the curb for collection. For more information, call (540) 853-2000, Option 1.

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