Long a gathering place for residents of Columbus, this area hosted German songfests, Fourth of July festivities, the 1864 and 1865 Ohio State Fairs, and the 1871 peace celebration marking the end of the Franco-Prussian War. In 1867, the City of Columbus purchased 23 acres of the area, then known as Stewart's Grove, for $15,000 and named it City Park. On July 4, 1891, before a crowd of 50,000, the German-American community dedicated a 25-foot-tall, 2,640-pound statue of German poet Friedrich von Schiller, cast in Munich, Germany, and given as a gift to the City of Columbus. In 1905, the park's name was changed to Schiller Park. Anti-German sentiment during World War I led to its renaming as Washington Park, but in 1930 the name was changed back to Schiller Park. Along with the historic landmarks of German Village, it was entered into the National Register of Historic Places in 1974, and in 2006 the White House designated German Village a Preserve America neighborhood. Beginning in 1988, a cooperative fundraising and planning effort by the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department, the Friends of Schiller Park, local German singing societies, and the German Village Society restored Schiller Park to its former beauty. Today it remains a peaceful setting and a centerpiece of community life for local residents and visitors.
