Wallace Gardens

During World Wars I and II, the U.S. Government encouraged the development of personal and community gardens as a way of encouraging rationing and also building community togetherness. Community gardens (so called “victory gardens”) were established in Grandview Heights in 1941 by Judge Dana Reynolds and engineering firm founder Chester Niple (of Burgess & Niple). The property for the gardens had been donated to the city in the 1930s for recreational and green space use by George Urlin, one of the founders of Grandview Heights.  

Local communities with victory gardens often shared gardening advice. A 1943 Columbus Dispatch article, for example, promoted growing soy beans to replace diet protein lost by meat rationing. Professor Victory H. Ries, who managed the gardens in Grandview Heights at the time, was said to be testing soy bean varieties to see which might best suit victory gardens.   

The gardens were renamed in 1983 after James Wallace (1902-1992), an Ohio State professor of agriculture, Grandview Heights city treasurer (1971-1978), and retired executive of local manufacturer Ranco, Inc. Wallace said in 1972, "For me, it's barnyard golf. I swing a hoe instead of a club. That $6 for one greens fee gives me a whole year here." Wallace worked in World War I victory gardens as a boy in Dayton, and rented his first Grandview Heights city plot in 1946. 

Wallace Gardens are the longest continually-operating World War II-era victory gardens in the United States. Today, 99 plots of varying size are available to Grandview Heights residents for rent from April to November. With the heightened interest in local and organic food production, demand is high for the plots and the City typically has a waiting list.  

James Wallace working in his namesake gardens.

 

1918 photo shows two women consuming the "fruits" of their labors; inset is from 1942 Mechanix Illustrated magazine instructing readers how to best plan a victory (V) garden.

This cottonwood tree stands in Wallace Gardens at the southwest corner of Goodale Boulevard and Grandview Avenue, in a grouping of three large cottonwood trees. It is the second largest tree on Grandview Heights city property.