In a 1901 report for the City Beautiful Movement, landscape architect Warren Manning wrote:
“The opportunity for a great country park at Harrisburg lies to the north of the city in the tract known as Wetzel’s Swamp, which includes about 500 acres of swampy and dry land, framed in with wooded bluffs on the one side, and a line of fine old willows along the canal on the other. As it stands today it is a natural park with beautiful passages of landscapes, and fine vistas, even great stretches of meadow land to distant hills beyond.
It is rare indeed, that a city can secure a property having all the elements of a park landscape, its border-planting of fine trees, splendid individual species and woodlands carpeted in spring with numerous wild flowers.”
The Cameron family owned most of Wildwood and donated it to the city. The lake was formed with the damming of Paxton Creek in 1908, which then allowed paths to be laid around the lake and other facilities were established, such as a baseball field, riding stables, a zoo, and a boat rental operation.
From 1927 to 1945 the park was home to the “Harrisburg Zoological Garden.” At its peak the zoo had four lions, four bears, a mountain lion, wolves, raccoons, seals, and a monkey house. According to the late Paul Beers, “Eventually, broken-down peddler horses from the streets were disposed there. A true zoological park it wasn’t, and Milton S. Hershey satisfied that demand with his own zoo at Hersheypark.”
Wildwood served for years as the city dump before 157-acres of the land was sold to Harrisburg Area Community College where it built its campus in 1967. In 1976, the Dauphin County Commissioners and Harrisburg City Council agreed to the Wildwood Park transfer agreement and the park was acquired by the county for $1.00. It now operates as a county park under the direction
of the Dauphin County Parks and Recreation Department along with The Friends of Wildwood Park, formed in 1987, to support and promote enhancements to the park.
Today Wildwood Park and the Benjamin Olewine Nature Center occupy a 229-acre area, including the 90-acre lake, six miles of trails, 1.5 miles of boardwalks, and provides the public with excellent birding, hiking/walking trails, handicapped accessible boardwalks, fishing, biking, and more. The park is open from dawn to dusk. Bicyclists are permitted on the paved portion of Wildwood Way
Trail, but not on unpaved trails or boardwalks. Electric bikes are forbidden.
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An article by Bill Cologie
Along the Greenbelt is produced by the Capital Area Greenbelt Association in
cooperation with The Historical Society of Dauphin County.