Eden Park and Krohn Conservatory - Loveland Section

The southern terminus of the Loveland Section is located in Eden Park, by all accounts the gem of the Cincinnati's park system. The park includes the Art Museum, Playhouse in the Park, two river overlooks, Mirror Lake, Twin Lakes, the often photographed water tower, Presidents’ Grove and Krohn Conservatory.

Twin Lakes in the Fall.

It is no accident that Eden Park feels like a garden-woodland oasis in the heart of the city. The land, once named The Garden of Eden, was purchased by Nicholas Longworth from Martin Baum. Longworth was an avid horticulturalist and a man of great vision. After an inspiring trip to Philadelphia, Longworth hired Daniel McAvoy to improve upon his Garden of Eden. Longworth and McAvoy worked tirelessly adding new plants and trees to the property. A few grapevines remain from the heyday of the Longworth vineyards. (Cincinnati was, for a time, a desirable place to produce wine. Unfortunately a less than ideal climate and the phylloxera root disease brought the wine production to an end).

The land that Longworth developed and kept open for the public’s enjoyment, passed to his son who later worked to have the Garden of Eden transferred to the city (grand opening of the park was July 4, 1870). In honor of Longworth’s Garden of Eden the park land was named Eden Park.  Enter the other key player in the development of what you see today; Adolph Strauch.

Strauch’s name may not be as familiar as that of Frederic Law Olmsted’s but for Cincinnati, it is Strauch to whom we owe a bit of gratitude. You may be familiar with his design of Spring Grove Cemetery and Arboretum, also in Cincinnati.  Strauch believed in enhancing nature by working more with nature rather than man made objects.



Mirror Lake Facing Downtown

Strauch removed man made obstacles such as stone walls and fencing (common in cemeteries at the time) and created settings in which the observer was positioned in a way to see only hills, lakes, streams and trees, not other people.  Strauch used nature to re-create nature into ideal park settings.  In both settings, Eden Park and Spring Grove Cemetery, the natural and potential topography of the land was ideally suited for Strauch’s design sensibilities.

Strauch was for a time the Superintendent of City Parks. Even after politics drove him away, Strauch found a way to ‘shame’ the city into installing more tress. It is quite possible that he asked Baron Richard Von Steube, Germany’s Royal Chief Forrester, to comment that Eden Park lacked sufficient trees; which did not sit well with city officials. Voila, more trees.



Krohn Conservatory

I often find myself in Eden Park (which is in jogging distance from my house), for an hour or the entire day, walking about, enjoying the quiet of the space and the views of the river. Often times my visit to Eden Park includes a visit to Krohn Conservatory; a must-see point while Blue Blazing Ohio.

Art Deco Detailing

In the mid 1880’s Eden Park had a greenhouse which was used, in great part, to grow plants for decorating the city’s downtown parks. As the plant collection grew, so did a vision for a more substantial greenhouse. In 1902 the new greenhouse was expanded to two houses and it wasn’t long before the greenhouses were growing more than a quarter of a million plants for the city. By 1930, plans were made to replace the old greenhouses with a new structure.  The new greenhouses include a Palm House, Fern House, Propagation House and Power House; all in the Art Deco Style.



Later the Desert House was added and entry was added, completing Krohn Conservatory that you see today. The new greenhouse was opened to the public in 1933. In 1937 the structure was named the Irwin M. Krohn Conservatory, in honor of Mr. Krohn’s membership on the Board of Park Commissioners.

Krohn Conservatory

Open Tuesday -Sunday: 10 am – 5pm

1501 Eden Park Dr, Cincinnati, OH 45202

(513) 421-4086