Franklin Park, Columbus, O[hio]

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Franklin Park, on Columbus's east side, is anchored in this view by a glass conservatory rising behind the lawns and walks. The park was laid out in the late nineteenth century as part of a wave of American city parks meant to give urban residents green space and a place for public recreation. The image was made as a glass dry plate negative, an 8 by 10 inch format that required a tripod and a long exposure. The Detroit Publishing Company, which produced large numbers of views of American towns and landscapes around 1900, issued it as part of its catalog, so the picture also shows how such firms documented civic places for a national market.

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