Beard Park
600 South Manlius Street
The property Beard Park sits on is 5.8 acres between Fayetteville-Manlius Road, Franklin and Lincoln (originally canal) streets, that was known as "The Pond Lot" of the Wellwood estate. The "pond" was the reservoir for the Ledyard Hydraulic Canal, which took water from Limestone Creek near Manlius, carried it northward five miles in a shallow canal to provide water power for mills in Fayetteville. The reservoir was needed to maintain a steady water flow for the mills.
The Fayetteville School District acquired the Wells home, known as Wellwood, and the adjacent farm property in 1930 as the location for a new school building. The building, built in 1932, replaced the earlier brick school on the northside of Genesee St. near the Manlius corner (now the Municipal Building).
In the difficult economic times of The Great Depression, the school board felt it had no use for the "extra" property that the "Pond Lot" represented and in 1941 planned to sell it to a builder for a multiple residence. There had previously been two rental houses facing South Manlius St. when the property was owned by the Wells family.
School district voters turned down the sale after Huntington Beard Crouse, founder of Crouse-Hinds, and his son agreed to help village residents who wanted the pond and its surroundings kept for public purposes. H.B. Crouse provided $12,000 for development of the park after the land had become village property and after the village had agreed to provide maintenance of the park in perpetuity. The design of the park was done by N A. Rotunno of the Syracuse University School of Architecture.
Mr. Crouse bestowed the name Huntington Beard Memorial Park in honor of his uncle, an early Fayetteville businessman. The bronze plaque at the entrance says "developed for your enjoyment and entrusted to your care."
The village board agreed to accept the park property and on May 25, 1942 appointed the Huntington Beard Memorial Park Commission to oversee the park. The first members were Miss Emma Beard, William Robinson and Collin Armstrong.
After the Ledyard dam in Manlius Village broke about 1976, the original water supply system was interrupted. The villages of Fayetteville and Manlius agreed to an arrangement that used the Manlius Village Perry springs as a water source for the pond.
In 1997, the stonework around the pond was rebuilt and new lighting and electrical service was installed for the concerts and programs being held in the summer and skating in the winter.
