Hopewell Culture Amidst Ancient Monuments The Administrative History of Mound City Group National Monument / Hopewell Culture National Historical Park, Ohio

The transfer of Mound City Group National Monument from state to federal stewardship on August 1, 1946, occurred without fanfare. The National Park Service faced an immediate dilemma of providing basic public services, a task made more difficult by state removal of its non-real park property for use in other state memorials. While it would take nearly two decades to bring Mound City Group National Monument up to the high standards expected of any National Park Service unit, the initial rudimentary steps proved significant to establish an immediate federal presence.

One of Acting Custodian William W. Luckett's first moves was to secure a large entrance sign which for the first time informed visitors they were at a national monument. Another interpretive marker went up near the mounds. During Luckett's two-month tenure, the monument experienced heavy visitation and Luckett found it impossible to provide the same services as before such as reserving picnic tables for a fee and selling charcoal. He also began turning off the shelterhouse lights earlier than usual.

On November 2, 1946, Mound City Group's first permanent NPS custodian entered on duty. Clyde B. King was pleased to find buildings and utilities in good condition, slightly less than ideal roadways, and gravel walkways to the comfort station and Scioto River. Picnic facilities included seven fireplaces and an assortment of unstable picnic tables. Although picnicking was to end at dusk, there had never been strict enforcement other than flashing the lights on and off in the shelterhouse to encourage people to leave. King noted, "A hitching rail encouraged hayride parties which invariably arrived after dark to hold picnics; a ball diamond, dangerously close to the picnic area, had been unattended except such attention as could be given from the residence." [1]

King lamented the unusual amount of picnicking that occurred at the park. The recreational use, almost to the exclusion of the site's interpretive significance, would be a thorn in Clyde B. King's side for years to come.

Figure 28: First National Park Service entrance sign on Highway 104 for Mound City Group National Monument. (NPS/William W. Luckett, September 1946)

Figure 29: Comfort station near Scioto River, across parking lot from Mound City shelter house. (NPS/late 1940s)

Acting Custodian William W. Luckett was not a one-man show at Mound City Group National Monument. Maintenanceman James Sampson stayed on and continued routine maintenance operations such as mowing the fifty acres of bluegrass and regular cleaning of the picnic grounds. Thanks to the loan of mowing equipment from the Veterans Administration and state, and donation of small equipment from other Eastern NPS units, the transition from state to federal operations went smoothly. Bereft of interpretive exhibits, the "hordes" of visitors were left to enjoy picnicking, softball, and horse-shoe pitching. In order to provide minimal interpretive services, Luckett prepared a two-sided site flyer which the Region One Office mimeographed for distribution. Luckett reported his literary effort paid off because he found no discarded copies of it littering the grounds. [2]

Briefed for two days by his predecessor, Clyde King assumed the Mound City Group custodian position on November 2, 1946. King, a Park Service employee since 1935 with service at Natchez Trace Parkway, Tennessee; Moore's Creek National Military Park, North Carolina; and Meriwether Lewis National Monument, Tennessee, was pleased by Luckett's work on signage and interpretive services. During these early years with minimal staff, King enjoyed budget and personnel services provided by the Region One Office. [3] In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the park received similar administrative services from Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. In October 1948, reflecting a nationwide effort to conform job classifications, King's title changed from custodian to superintendent. [4]

King spent considerable time individually counting visitors, groups of picnickers, and noting various state license plates on vehicles parked in the lot. During the first year of NPS administration, 31,572 visitors came to Mound City Group, and 5,445 people entered the pavilion exhibit room where King displayed a topographical model of the mounds and he discussed their use in the context of Hopewell culture. In July 1947, bowing to public demand and to prevent foraging for natural fuel, King arranged an informal concession with a Chillicothe hardware store to supply picnickers with charcoal. Typical of hard-working, unheralded, and uncompensated Park Service spouses, Mrs. King handled area sales. [5]

Unfortunately, hopes for speedy development of NPS facilities were not forthcoming. An effort to include $47,700 for a museum building and exhibits into the 1948 and 1949 NPS budget failed. [6] King made the best of the situation. Nine new picnic tables for the shelterhouse and fifteen for the surrounding grounds were purchased for the 1948 visitor season, along with homemade exhibits added to the display room. Five thousand additional visitors arrived, reflecting the rapid national increase in vacation travel during the prosperous post-war years. Superintendent King increasingly made off-site talks to groups within a fifty-mile radius of Chillicothe on topics ranging from the national parks, moundbuilders, and wildflowers.

Like most managers at small parks with a staff of one to two people, Clyde King was a jack-of-all-trades. When not building exhibits and signs or interacting with visitors, King rendered assistance to Maintenanceman J. Vernon Acton. Such duties could be hazardous. For example, in February 1949, while helping to move picnic tables from storage in the shelter, King sprained his back. Several weeks later while pulling out a dead snag from shrubbery, it broke loose, struck him in the mouth, and caused a wound requiring three stitches. A chagrined King reported he lost no work-time as the mishap and the quick trip to the doctor took place during his lunch hour. [7] Living with his family in the onsite residence, King found himself on twenty-four-hour, seven-days-a-week call. Relief came during the 1952 season when local teacher Max V. Baughman entered on duty as the park's first seasonal employee, an information receptionist. "His presence gives me relief four evenings out of the week from 6 p.m. until dark," King noted, "and makes it possible for me to have two full lieu days each week." [8]

Figure 30: Superintendent Clyde B. King inspects museum exhibits, many of which he designed and built. (Chillicothe Gazette/Marcus Orr, September 14, 1949)

The predictable routine of monument operations lifted momentarily when special guests passed by for a visit. On August 22, 1950, NPS Director Newton B. Drury and his wife arrived at Mound City Group National Monument for a tour. Director Drury told the media he found the park "impressive" and "interesting," and said that development plans for Mound City Group were still pending within Interior. King arranged a personal meeting between the director and the park's "staunchest supporters": Eugene D. Rigney of the Ross County Historical Society and chamber of commerce secretary Douglas R. Pinkerton. [9]

If he was inclined after his visit to Mound City Group National Monument to assist its development, Newton Drury did not do so. Seven months later, Drury was no longer NPS director, but was replaced for most of the remainder of 1951 by Arthur E. Demaray, who then retired. On December 9, 1951, Conrad L. Wirth became the sixth NPS director. Just as the top administrative juggling caused uncertainty, so too did a reorganization in mid-1955. When the new Region Five (renamed in 1962 to Northeast Region) was created with headquarters in Philadelphia, a sixteen-state area, including Ohio, came under its purview. During the Truman administration and early Eisenhower years, facility improvements at Mound City Group never elevated to a priority level. [10]

Superintendent King first enumerated clear management goals for the park in 1953. His number-one priority was to shift Mound City Group's focus from recreation to interpretation. To do so, however, required a headquarters-museum building for adequate exhibits to provide enough visitor interest in order to curtail or eliminate outright the popular picnic usage. King's second goal was a complete restoration or more accurate reconstruction of the earthworks along with elimination of the railroad spur line and related Veterans Administration facilities. Third on King's list was a landscape program of screening and ornamental plantings. Until these goals were accomplished, King did not believe Mound City Group could be classified as a truly functional national monument. [11]

Lack of NPS movement on park development was undoubtedly rooted in persistent concerns about Mound City Group's physical integrity and, hence, its eligibility for national significance. Upon Secretary of the Interior Douglas McKay's request, NPS formed an "Area Management Study" in late 1953, the purpose of which was to identify National Park System units of questionable significance for possible disestablishment and relinquishment to state or local governments. In formulating its goals, the team cited Mound City Group National Monument among others as initial units to be studied. News of the December 1953 survey team effort reached Ohio authorities in February 1954. The Chillicothe Gazette, noting that a similar effort to transfer Mound City Group to the state was defeated just nine years previously, denounced claims that the site lacked national significance. The editorial stated, "It appears it will be necessary to serve notice again that the Chillicothe area is vitally interested in Mound City and not just as a picnic and softball area as it was referred to so lightly in Washington dispatches." The newspaper warned that if successful, the transfer would place it at the "whims of the legislature and eventually it will become just one of the 60 state parks." [12]

On February 19, 1954, survey team member and cooperative activities chief Ben H. Thompson recommended to Director Wirth that Mound City Group be one of the units included in the disposition program. Eugene Rigney, Ross County Historical Society director, denounced the action and pledged to work with the chamber of commerce and others to block it. Rigney feared loss of national monument status would mean a decrease of national visitation as the Chillicothe park was the only NPS unit in southern Ohio. With nearby Adena State Memorial, Rigney warned that the legislature would not be likely to provide adequate funding for two state parks in the same vicinity. To create such a state unit in the middle of the federally-owned reformatory and Veterans Administration land would be untenable. Disagreeing with Rigney, Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society director Erwin C. Zepp welcomed the proposed transfer, while former director Henry C. Shetrone exclaimed, "I think it would be the finest thing that could happen to Ohio in a long time. Their park was developed with Ohio funds [sic] and belongs to Ohio." [13]

Figure 31: Clyde King presents a program to a fifth-grade science class. Whether discussing natural or cultural resources, King never missed a chance to highlight Mound City Group and the Hopewell culture. (Chillicothe Gazette, October 1948)

Two weeks later, Ohio Governor Frank J. Lausche once again came to the defense of Chillicothe and Mound City Group National Monument. He denounced the determination that the monument was not nationally significant, and pointed out that NPS administered only two Ohio parks totalling no more than eighty-two acres total. Federal park services rendered in Ohio, Lausche argued, were miniscule in comparison to fiscal commitments in other states. He called the federal withdrawal "wrong and an injustice. Ohio, with an area of about 43,000 square miles, has [82] acres being administered by the National Park Service. If you abandon Mound City, from the standpoint of area," Lausche argued, "you will have nothing left. To me, it is inconceivable, that from the standpoint of National Monuments, Ohio should be so devoid of worth. It simply isn't so." [14] Responding to Lausche's protest, Director Wirth declared:

The Secretary of the Interior last year designated a survey team to study the organization of the National Park Service in the interest of greater efficiency and economy. Among the recommendations submitted by this survey team was one to the effect that this Service should review certain areas of the National Park System to determine which, if any, might be found to be of less than national significance and whether they might more appropriately be administered by State or local agencies of government.

The Mound City Group National Monument happened to be among those mentioned by the survey team as examples of the kinds of areas it felt should be reviewed. The Secretary accordingly has directed this Service to make the review as suggested and it is currently being undertaken as a basis for further Departmental consideration. Until this study is complete I am unable to say, of course, which areas may be recommended for disposition. As you may know, however, the abolishment or transfer of any area of the National Park System would require legislation by the Congress. [15]

Adding fuel to the Ohio controversy, the Interior secretary's Advisory Board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings, and Monuments entered the fray. The advisory board, established following passage of the 1935 Historic Sites Act, reviewed the NPS survey team's results of seven areas that lacked national significance and should be transferred. [16] Approving the four on the top of the NPS list, including Mound City Group, the board added nine more sites of its own. [17] On March 22, 1954, the advisory board formally resolved that Mound City Group National Monument lacked national significance and should be abolished, and that NPS begin the process of getting the park turned over to the state. [18]

Superintendent King refrained from issuing any personal position on the controversy to the media, but continued to stress NPS's role in protecting and interpreting the site. By contrast, whereas the state society's usual practice was to provide site interpretation of local units in its Columbus museum, King hoped "this public service contribution by [NPS] can be brought out more effectively in the community. It is unfortunate that here the interpretive point is so completely surrounded by the picnic facilities." [19] King succinctly summarized the debate for Director Wirth as follows:

That if prehistoric tribes are to be recognized on a National level then the Hopewell certainly should be included in at least one site. This group was the most extensive in occupation area and the most advanced culturally of all prehistoric tribes in the eastern United States.

That of all Hopewell sites the Mound City Group is the outstanding burial shrine, both in the type of burials and the variety of objects found at the site. Too, it is central to the largest concentration of their geometric earthworks.

That while it is unfortunate that the site is a restoration, it is even more unfortunate that no other site can be acquired which will not require restoration to make it an effective display. Further, no site of this type can equal the Mound City Group in economy of operation since the area involved is so limited and located near utilities.

That no other site matches it in the part played in the history of American Archeology, especially in connection with "Ancient Monuments of the Mississippi Valley" first of the Smithsonian publications.

That the completion of a headquarters building and of a display will tend to change the emphasis from picnic use to interpretive and will increase such use in what is normally the "off" season.

That while the State of Ohio will maintain the area effectively it will not maintain a proper interpretive program. Too, the National status tends to draw tourists from all states and countries whereas a State status will tend to localize its use. [20]

In Clyde King's mind, in spite of its overwhelming use for picnicking, Mound City Group deserved retention of national monument status and operation by the National Park Service.

Politically, the transfer effort initially received enthusiastic endorsement from Congressman James G. Polk. Polk, whose district included Ross County, stated that Ohio might do a better job at Mound City Group because federal spending there had been stingy in recent years. When his constituents in Chillicothe rose in protest, Polk tempered his position and announced federal funding would be available for at least one more year of NPS operations at Mound City Group. [21] Polk received his assurances from Conrad Wirth who, encouraged by the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society's willingness to assume management, was at the same time reluctant to act because of Governor Lausche's vehement opposition. On June 9, 1954, Wirth informed Secretary McKay that while Ohio Senator John W. Bricker might back the transfer legislation, "I recommend that no further action for the transfer of this national monument be taken in the immediate future. Later in the year," Wirth continued, "I would expect to discuss with members of the Ohio delegation and others concerned the possibilities of the enactment of legislation to abolish the area as a national monument and transfer it to the appropriate State agency for administration as a State historical park or monument." [22]

By the end of 1954, when public opposition to the transfer had not abated, Area Management Study team member Ben Thompson concurred with Senator Bricker's staff assistant that the matter should be deferred to a later date. In the meantime, Thompson recommended NPS move ahead by asking the Ohio society to turn over Mound City Group artifacts in order to warrant construction of a museum and full interpretive program. The strategy received both Director Wirth and Secretary McKay's approval. In June 1955, Erwin C. Zepp told NPS Chief Historian Herbert Kahler that while the Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Society was still interested in the new management scenario, it could not cooperate as long as Governor Lausche remained opposed. Zepp confided that perhaps things would change following the next gubernatorial election. [23]

Yet another NPS review approved by Associate Director Eivind T. Scoyen on February 20, 1956, sanctioned continued efforts for Mound City Group disposition. Scoyen's act came in the context of the agency's MISSION 66 program, a ten-year facility development effort launched by the Eisenhower administration to enhance visitor services in the national parks in time for the Park Service's fiftieth anniversary in 1966. This initial MISSION 66 prospectus for Mound City Group simply reiterated contemporary NPS policy of maintaining status quo operations while seeking authority to transfer the area. However, lingering doubts about the transfer which had simmered within the cultural resources professional ranks, soon erupted to call the policy into question.

In a landmark move, NPS Staff Archeologist John M. Corbett's observations on February 29, 1956, delivered the first professional argument from an archeolgical standpoint to justify retention of Mound City Group. Recognizing that MISSION 66 sought a well-rounded, balanced national park system, Dr. Corbett observed that NPS managed nineteen archeological units, including fifteen recognizing various American Southwest culture groups, primarily pueblos and cliff dwellers. Outside that region were a scant four: Effigy Mounds National Monument, Iowa; Ocmulgee National Monument, Georgia; Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota; and Mound City Group National Monument, Ohio. Corbett noted that while Effigy Mounds demonstrated some Hopewellian traits, it was peripheral to and probably later than classical Hopewellian sites in the Ohio and Illinois valleys. Therefore, Mound City Group represented the sole Hopewellian unit of the national park system. The Hopewell culture, Corbett argued, was significant and had to be interpreted to the American public:

Although the visible remains left by the Hopewell people, largely earth-covered burial mounds, are not so readily interpreted or as spectacular to the average visitor (or as well publicized for that matter) as the ruined pueblos and ancient cliff dwellers of the Southwest, the Hopewell people themselves possessed a remarkably well developed and unique culture, and which existed a thousand years before the great prehistoric pueblos of the Southwest, and one which had a marked effect upon all subsequent Indian cultures east of the Mississippi River from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The intellectual, cultural, and religious achievements of these people were in their way, just as magnificent as that of the later Southwestern Anasazi and Hohokam. [24]

While archeologists had studied the Anasazi for seventy years, serious examination of the Hopewell had been underway only one or two decades. Further, Dr. Corbett noted, while the Antiquities Act had been invoked to save a multitude of Southwestern sites, most of the finest Hopewell sites had already succumbed to the ever-advancing population and industrialization of the Eastern United States. As archeologists continued to study sites and develop better techniques for interpretation of past cultures, public interest would be elevated and lead to increased appreciation for the Hopewell on a level approaching that held for the pueblo and Anasazi. Corbett recognized the Historic Sites Survey and Advisory Board's subsequent designation of Grave Creek Mound, West Virginia; Miamisburg Mound, Ohio; and Serpent Mound, Ohio, all classic Adena sites under state control, as national historic landmarks. He viewed divestiture of Mound City Group as unwise:

Since disestablishment of Mound City Group as a national monument would only further throw out of balance a system already heavily weighted toward the Southwest, and since we have no other truly comparable area in the park system and since the accomplishments of the Hopewell people and their effect upon later culture are not as readily appreciated today as they may be in the foreseeable future, I recommend:

1. That we move with extreme caution in attempting to turn Mound City Group National Monument over to Ohio state; and 2. If disestablished, the Service acquire an equal or better area characteristic of Hopewell culture. [25]

In a follow-up examination of Mound City Group's potential, John Corbett observed there were no other Hopewellian sites left that were of its same or greater magnitude. "There is no one area which encompasses the story of American archeology--especially that part of the story which started east of the Mississippi and later spread to the Southwest. But Mound City," Corbett argued, "is as logical a place in which to tell this story because of its association with Squier and Davis and later with Shetrone of Ohio archeology fame and because of its physical closeness to the center of much of the early archeological work which took place in the Ohio valley." [26] To improve the park's interpretive possibilities, Corbett urged reduction of the heavy local picnic usage by imposing a modest entrance fee in conjunction with an increased interpretive program focused both on the Hopewell culture and the development of American archeology through the early work of Squier and Davis. "Such a combined archeological-historical interpretive approach," Corbett opined, "would assist greatly in gradually shifting the emphasis at Mound City from local recreational use to the more conventional historical-interpretive use pattern. It would make Mound City Group National Monument a full working member of the Park Service family." [27]

While John Corbett's argument to retain Mound City Group National Monument in the National Park System ended the policy decision to seek disposition, and likewise quelled the political impetus, the February 20, 1956, MISSION 66 prospectus remained in effect, providing no program benefits to the Ohio park. Until the prospectus was amended, Mound City Group remained in limbo. [28]

Clyde King worked diligently at the local level to change the laissez-faire policy. As early as January 1949, King began scouring the archives in Columbus searching for survey and excavation notes from 1920-21, and discussed loan of artifacts. Columbus officials refused to discuss temporary loans, especially in light of inadequate museum conditions in Chillicothe. Nonetheless, King persisted in attempts to build an interpretive program. One of his off-season duties involved preparing the park's archeological base map. Handicapped by the "missing or mislaid" 1920-21 records, King approached completion of draft base maps by the spring of 1951. [29] When the disestablishment effort intensified, he forwarded the package, complete with historical narrative, to Region Five. On October 23, 1956, Regional Director Daniel J. Tobin sent it to the Washington Office with the expressed wish that "it will add weight to the retention of Mound City Group in the National Park System and [for] its full development and interpretation." [30] In addition to continued efforts to negotiate artifact loans from Columbus, King worked to update the park's master plan that focused on a self-guiding leaflet for visitors in the mound area. There were no trails planned; instead, visitors were free to wander the mounds at will. [31]

In ten years at Mound City Group, King's belief in the park's significance never wavered, but this resolve was tempered by boredom and disgust at the lack of park development. In the aftermath of the failed disposition attempt, he confided his personal desire for a transfer to a colleague: "I want one but I stay here, for no more than 9 years more anyway [until retirement]. However, rather than sit idly by waiting for something to happen, and not a thing has..., I took on an extra part-time job." [32] Using his accrued vacation time, King began substitute teaching in the local schools to provide himself with an intellectual challenge as well as to escape the monotony of counting visitors and picnic groups. Until the pervasive recreational aspect could be curtailed or, even better, altogether eliminated, Mound City Group National Monument would never progress beyond being a local playground.

Figure 32: School groups ate lunch at Mound City before reboarding school buses for their ultimate destination: Adena State Memorial. (NPS/no date)

While picnicking and group recreation, primarily softball and horseshoes, were the most common visitor activities at Mound City Group, other popular endeavors included kite-flying and "rolling down the mounds." [33] Clyde King's efforts to curb picnicking began soon after he entered on duty in late 1946. Two stone grills were removed north of the pavilion in an effort to end picnicking in that area adjacent to the parking lot and mounds. In 1948, King implemented further restrictions, including no children under sixteen unless chaperoned by an adult, an absolute 10 p.m. curfew, not more than three picnic tables per group unless conditions permitted otherwise, and moving softball playing to an open area further away from the pavilion for safety reasons. As a result, fewer large groups came, and those that did come were there for educational purposes, too. Because of its many years of use, closing the park to picnickers was not advisable, King lamented. Too many touring groups used the park as a lunch and information stopover, particularly those on their way to Adena State Memorial. Families of patients at the Veterans Administration hospital also regularly used the pavilion. Most of the use was local; few tourists from outside the region knew about, or used, the pavilion. [34]

In 1952, another restriction limited picnicking strictly within the picnic grounds themselves, except when that area was at capacity. King directed absolute policy enforcement toward school groups which served food in the shelter, and then dispersed into the mounds to eat. High school children particularly were guilty of leaving "plates, cups, wrappers, and cellophane bags in the mound area" for Maintenanceman J. Vernon Acton to pick up. [35]

Figure 33: Groups of children arrived at Mound City Group in droves during the fall and spring while on school-sponsored trips. (NPS/circa 1960)

When MISSION 66 development plans (see next section) for a museum/visitor center were unveiled in November 1957, news that picnicking would be de-emphasized was not well-received. The local newspaper advised against eliminating the shelterhouse. [36] However, King remained adamant, ignored local sentiment outright, and secured NPS permission to remove it. [37] By late summer 1959, King received verbal commitments from both city and state government to accept the pavilion if details could be worked out. On October 1, 1959, the Chillicothe Park and Recreation Commission urged the mayor to accept the structure and secure funding to dismantle, transport, and resite it in the city's Yoctangee Park. [38] At its October 15 meeting, the city council failed to act on the NPS offer, and King speculated the council was playing "power politics" in light of behind-the-scenes efforts to get NPS to change its mind. He reported to Philadelphia, "I prefer to raze the building myself than to have it become a nuisance to the entire future program of the area." [39] In an October 24 meeting with city officials and Garrett S. Dill, manager of the local American Automobile Association (AAA), King informed them that if the campaign to retain the pavilion persisted, NPS might revisit the issue of relinquishing management of the site. Anticipating political pressure, King urged Regional Director Tobin to stall "long enough that the shelter will be a thing of the past before January 1, 1960." [40]

In response to local letters of protest, political pressure came swiftly. One typical letter came from the Ross-Highland Automobile Club representing four thousand members in two counties. In a unanimous vote, its board of directors demanded NPS retain the pavilion and reopen the recently-closed road leading to it. Extolling the good condition of the structure, the group could not understand why it had to be removed when it could scarcely be viewed from the proposed visitor center-museum. Used for reunions, club meetings, Sunday school and church groups, political gatherings, and diverse types of city, county, and regional groups, the pavilion was like no other comparably-sized public facility in that part of Ohio. [41] Senator Stephen Young of Ohio, promising to do his "utmost to postpone or prevent the discontinuance" of the pavilion, arranged an emergency meeting with NPS Director Conrad Wirth. [42] In the meantime, Tobin instructed King once again to offer it to the state and, should Ohio decline the offer, "take immediate steps to demolish the structure." [43]

As King acted on his instructions, Mother Nature intervened to save the pavilion. By late fall, contract workers had already removed the parking lot to pavilion roadbed as well as the 40-car lot itself. After exhibits were removed, they also dismantled the pavilion's small museum display room. As work was set to begin separating the building from its stone foundation, a December 7 snowstorm struck and delayed the work long enough that by mid-December, mounting political pressure forced Interior officials to agree to a public meeting. Tobin ordered the initial removal work be halted. In the meantime, in reaction to the removal work, the state division of parks accepted the building, the city immediately asked that it be given another shot at it, and the state withdrew its offer. [44]

Into this confusion came Regional Archeologist John L. Cotter and Assistant Regional Director George A. Palmer on January 27, 1960. The public meeting promised by Interior took place in the Ross County probate courtroom. Palmer announced his and Cotter's presence was merely to gather information on the 1957 NPS decision, expressed in the MISSION 66 prospectus, to remove the shelter house. He stated dissimilar activities, recreation and education, needed to be physically separated. When the pavilion was built in the 1930s, Palmer declared, it was allowed because there was nothing else for visitors to do at Mound City Group and those facilities were lacking in the area. Three decades later, Palmer noted, the situation had changed, and Mound City Group's MISSION 66 facilities were soon to be open to the public. Palmer then listened as twenty local representatives of organizations and businesses presented their arguments which reflected three principal themes: groups needed a place for lunch while on organized tours, it encouraged increased tourism travel, and the local perception of MISSION 66 necessitated recreational development at each unit. Garrett Dill, manager of the Ross-Highland Automobile Club, dramatically announced a telephone poll of the eighty-one national monuments operated by NPS. It revealed thirty-nine possessed picnic facilities. From a national standpoint, Dill concluded, Mound City Group conformed to Park Service policies. [45]

Palmer later reported being disconcerted by two things. First, the same contractor who performed the work of removing the parking lot and road to the pavilion spoke out against the very policy which gave him a job. Second, the person who presented the most effective argument against NPS had been portrayed to him by Clyde King as a staunch friend and supporter. Eugene Rigney, director of the Ross County Historical Society, said the logical thing to do would be to assess the situation only after the new visitor center had been in operation for a few visitor seasons. To make the decision at this time, Rigney argued, seemed very premature. Palmer reported to Regional Director Ronald F. Lee, "The National Park Service is not without fault in this very unfortunate public relations situation from which I am convinced there is no withdrawal without considerable loss of prestige and friendship in the community." Palmer believed King should have taken the 1957 prospectus to community officials and discussed its implications. Further, believing the structure had to be removed, maintenance was deferred and deterioration occurred. "To anyone attending the public meeting," Palmer noted, "it was obvious that our reversal of policy [regarding picnicking] and the presentation of it to the community has been mishandled." [46]

In response to a public meeting claim that the deteriorated shelter house was "not worth moving," King conducted an immediate safety inspection. A red-faced superintendent apologized to Regional Director Lee that he had not paid more attention not only because he believed the building would be razed, but that much of the extensive wood rot had been covered up by high shrubbery stripped away in November in preparation for the removal. Finding it potentially unstable, King recommended it be condemned as unsafe pending professional investigation. He worried that because four of the five roof supports showed signs of deterioration that much of the remaining wormy chestnut could also be affected by dry rot as well. Determined to be rid of picnicking once and for all, Clyde King advised that the contract proceed for pavilion removal. [47]

George Palmer responded tersely to King's request. Still peeved by being blindsided during the public relations debacle, Palmer nixed King's counsel, admonishing, "You should, by all means, not make any public statement that will make our relations with the local community any more difficult than they are at the present. The Director has taken the matter of the final disposition of the building out of our hands so that the action you take or the action that we take here will not be the determining one." [48] King's subsequent request to disassemble the remainder of the museum room as well as electrical power and fixtures "to discourage night use and youths playing music" brought another rebuke from Philadelphia. Palmer denied permission to proceed with any additional dismantling work which "could be misunderstood and misinterpreted" by the community. [49]

In Region Five's recommendation to Director Wirth, Palmer noted that with removal of the parking lot, pavilion road, and even the VA incinerator road, it was too late to retreat from the policy decision to abandon picnic facilities. To replace proper access would cost $40,000, and $10,000 more to make all necessary building repairs. While the region believed it to be necessary to stand firm on removal, Palmer admitted, "It is my honest opinion that the Service has made a mistake at Mound City in accepting statements that the picnic ground is not needed or used sufficiently to justify it. There is a local need for a picnic ground and the state has not provided one that would replace the picnic facilities at Mound City." Palmer committed Region Five to channeling federal recreation monies to Ohio to construct such area facilities, but in the interim, Mound City Group should continue to serve those picnickers willing to walk to the pavilion from a new parking lot. NPS Washington officials concurred. [50]

Rehabilition of the shelter house roof support system occurred in April 1960 for the summer visitor season, and the first of many groups balked at having to carry their supplies from the new visitor center lot to the pavilion. King had to barricade the "driveway beyond the railroad tracks to prevent groups from parking around the shelter itself. It may become necessary to barricade the residence driveway to keep it from becoming an area for picnic parking. Some groups demand it." [51] George Palmer, returning to Mound City Group for an inspection tour and to meet with local officials, announced the shelter house would remain for at least three years until other facilities became available in the area. Visitors would have to walk to the pavilion from the visitor center parking lot, and outdoor cooking grills along with the former museum room walls would be removed. [52]

These measures contributed to a dramatic reduction of picnicking use. Following the 5 p.m. visitor center closing, evening picnics ceased altogether, and weekend use came about only by those groups willing to walk to the area, after which most said they would henceforth go elsewhere. In light of diminished use, King again recommended razing the pavilion prior to the 1961 season. Region Five, anxious to avoid further public criticism and confident that the passage of time would cure the problem, again rebuffed King's request, advising him to focus his attention on the new visitor center and forget the picnic area. [53] Visitor use statistics revealed the drop in picnicking use. July 1960, traditionally a heavy visitor-use month, saw 3,806 visitors compared to 7,782 during July 1959. Those visitors largely were recorded at the new visitor center. King reported that only one group of thirty and ten family groups used the picnic grounds along with a "few 'die-hards' who feel the change in emphasis was a personal slap at Chillicothe." [54] In his August 1960 report, King noted,

Local 'play' groups just will not come out for picnics if they cannot drive almost to their tables. With but few exceptions the local citizens are accepting the changes, if they are explained in the proper way. The first approach: that we are responsible for operating a Monument, not a playground, therefore, the road was removed. Then if they are not satisfied they are reminded that an area with a steep bluff and deep river is not the ideal choice for a playground. After that but few have more to say for most local people have often commented about how dangerous the area was, especially for small children.

The closing of the picnic ground, even in the remote future, does not come into the discussion but for all effective purposes, the picnic ground is closed. They rarely use it during the week, sometimes only one group, sometimes none, and seldom more than two groups use it on Sunday. The Ross County Fairground is open to group picnics such as formerly used this area and several of these groups have gone there this year. [55]

Other recreational uses continued on a reduced scale as well. Evening use included people exercising their dogs, children running and rolling over the mounds, fishermen walking to the river, and those out for an evening drive. [56]

King refused to back down from his non-compromising position on razing the shelter house. When asked to assess local sentiment at the end of the 1961 season, King reported that while Dill and Rigney stuck with their previous views, the chamber of commerce now believed picnicking should be strictly the city's responsibility. Most local people had already found other accommodations. King said that the goal of eliminating such facilities was intentionally omitted from the MISSION 66 prospectus "lest local pressure compel us to keep and improve [them]. Since my arrival here almost 15 years ago I have been advised by the Service to eliminate picnicking as soon as possible." In the two seasons that elapsed since the phase-out of picnicking was announced, none of the picnics actually required use of a shelter. "In fact," King commented, "the use of the area has been insufficient to warrant the retention of any facilities in that area. To reopen the discussions might endanger our position, whereas the razing of the building as a justifiable safety measure would be accepted with no comment." [57]

Clyde King did not see demolition of the despised shelter house occur on his watch. In late March 1962, he transferred to Harper's Ferry National Monument, West Virginia, as management assistant. Although hailed as "Mr. Moundbuilder" by the local newspaper, King's editorial tribute was muted in its praise; the long altercation had clearly taken its toll. [58] In July 1962, following an inspection that revealed the pavilion's deterioration might again make it unsafe, George Palmer met again with Chillicothe officials, and secured agreement from Eugene Rigney that the building should be removed. However, they agreed that three picnic tables, a trash barrel, and a small parking lot be provided in the park's northwest corner adjacent to State Route 104. [59] On August 24, 1962, contract work began to remove the wooden pavilion, leaving the stone foundation, concrete walks, and comfort station, [60] which were removed by April 17, 1963, with the sites fertilized and seeded in grass. [61]

Picnicking never again became the dominant recreation activity that it was prior to 1960. The long-held NPS goal of eliminating it was successful, but cost the agency considerable public goodwill by the manner in which it came to be. In August 1973, the small picnic area was moved inside the perimeter fence for safety reasons. The poorly-designed lunching spot became increasingly hazardous as the volume of State Route 104 traffic continued to increase. Moved to a spot northwest of the visitor center, patrons could now more conveniently park in the main lot and walk to the tables. This interim solution ended in 1976 when the picnic area was again relocated and received favorable public comment. [62]

With disposition to the state of Ohio looming in the mid-1950s, MISSION 66 improvements at Mound City Group National Monument almost did not occur. The February 20, 1956 prospectus arrived with instructions from Associate Director E. T. Scoyen not to undertake any facility development without prior agreement with Ohio. Instead of being placed in a new visitor center/museum, administrative functions were approved for removal from the small office in the superintendent's residence to the shelter house which would be rehabilitated to accommodate this combined purpose. [63]

New attitudes directed toward Mound City Group came in the aftermath of Archeologist John Corbett's early 1956 assessment of significance. A Region Five team conducting an area management study in June 1956, reflected Corbett's views. The team declared the pavilion was poorly sited to serve as the park's visitor center and administration building, and to make it as such would be "pouring good money after bad." They added,

It is our conviction that Mound City Group National Monument should not be subjected to a further interim period of existence. If the decision is to retain it in the National Park System, it should be effectively developed as soon as it can be programmed. If it is to be disposed of, it should be left as it is and immediate steps taken to transfer it. [64]

The team concurred with Clyde King that "undue emphasis" remained on the picnic area with the mounds considered a mere adjunct area for amusement. The monument required a visitor center to "provide proper understanding of the mounds." The team declared, "As a result of our study of Mound City and visits to other mound sites in the vicinity of Chillicothe, we feel that the Monument should be retained as a unit in the National Park System to tell the fascinating story of the Hopewell Indians." If retained, Mound City Group should not only be restored to the prehistoric period, but its title should be changed to convey a more accurate picture to visitors, with a name like "Hopewell Mounds" or "Indian Mounds" National Monument. [65]

In its review and approval of the area management study, Region Five shifted gears and recommended a fundamental revision of the MISSION 66 prospectus. The region concurred with John Corbett concerning national significance, and in assessing the integrity issue, George Palmer stated, "The erection of Camp Sherman did not bring complete destruction of the mounds as we had understood and it appears that the excavations of 1920 and 1921 by the Ohio Archaeological Society was a highly professional project. To us the Mound City Group appears to have higher professional recognition and archeological merit than the National Park Service has credited to it in the past." [66] Therefore, Palmer recommended that the prospectus be altered to include a new visitor center/museum building and parking lot along State Route 104. Such a facility would serve visitors immediately upon their entering the park, would separate primary cultural resources from the public service area, and would constitute an interpretive focus on the mounds themselves. Acknowledging the tardiness of this MISSION 66 proposal, Palmer pressed for its timely consideration. [67]

Although the MISSION 66 prospectus was soon amended to reflect Palmer's request, Director Conrad Wirth's final approval hinged on preparing an acceptable museum prospectus. When a March 1958 draft included plans to use artifacts at the Ohio State Museum, NPS Washington officials wanted a written commitment that the artifacts would be made available upon the visitor center's completion. Acting Director E. T. Scoyen warned, "We believe it would not be proper to program this project without this assurance." [68] When Ohio Historical Society director Erwin C. Zepp agreed to the long-term loan as well as procurement of replicas, [69] planning continued unencumbered.

Public announcement of MISSION 66 improvements came on November 11, 1957. Clyde King reported phase one, fiscal year 1958 improvements of $22,700 in the form of roads, trails, and signs, with $163,200 programmed the following year for the visitor center and utilities. King announced the de-emphasis of Mound City Group as a city picnic area as follows: "The need for a balanced program of cultural preservation at Mound City has not been met. This program will place the interpretation of the Hopewell prehistoric peoples and their culture in its proper perspective and give it the needed emphasis." With new interpretive facilities, King predicted visitation to hit 75,000 by 1966. [70]

Unfortunately, the MISSION 66 program for Mound City Group came in the immediate aftermath of President Dwight D. Eisenhower's speech calling for increased military scientific research spending following the Soviet Union's successful "Sputnik" manned spacecraft launch into Earth's orbit. It prompted a petition circulated by Circleville resident Stewart F. Martin, signed by fifteen other citizens, opposing "spendthrift foolishness" to improve a park already "attractive and highly satisfactory." Directed to their immediate congressional delegation, the petition-signers said only a periodic "fogging" for flies was required, adding, "When we reflect upon the President's recent address and consider the gravity of the current world conditions with the effort and expense of maintaining defense, we cannot afford the luxury of the whimsical desire to put the Hopewell, or any other prehistoric Indians, in the 'proper perspective' or give them their 'needed emphasis.'" [71] In response, Acting Director E. T. Scoyen stated the monument was nationally significant, and as such merited Park Service preservation and interpretation, with development not going beyond the modest amount of $185,900 over a ten-year period. [72] A local drive to drown out the small opposition group effectively mobilized to support park development. [73]

Budget limitation imposed by the Bureau of the Budget eliminated Mound City Group's development funds scheduled for fiscal year 1959. Responding to Ohio Senator Bricker, Acting Director Scoyen said the park held a high priority in the MISSION 66 program and expressed hope that national economic conditions would permit reprogramming and/or scheduling the project. [74] Such a hope sparked to life at mid-year but in reduced form when Director Wirth limited visitor center development to less than $100,000 for building and exhibits. The museum prospectus estimatated space requirements at 4,500 square feet, but to fit funding, planners began reducing the overall space allocation. [75] To King, the reduction in office space still represented more than the existing ten by ten office room in the residence, and he approved space cuts in this area. [76]

Typical of the Park Service's minimalist approach, Mound City Group was to get a "bare bones" MISSION 66 package. Building design came after exhibit planning which occurred in July 1958 with the assistance of Washington Office Archeologist John Corbett and Regional Archeologist John Cotter. The team took their draft plan to Columbus for review by Ohio State Museum curator Raymond Baby. It contained fifteen exhibits to show the use of mounds, who built them and how, and an array of objects the Hopewells used. The plan adopted an existing exhibit and one exhibit was to be seasonal in nature and changed frequently. [77] With funds identified in the fiscal year 1960 budget, King scheduled a project bid-opening for August 18, 1959. Construction drawings called for a one-story stone and brick veneer museum/office building with a panorama bridge deck atop its eastern end. Plans called for a museum surrounding an open-air patio measuring forty by forty feet, with offices, utility room and entranceway facing State Route 104. An outdoor lecture area with steps leading to the panorama bridge faced the mounds and afforded an excellent view of the mound group. A forty-car paved lot to the south was connected via a new road to the existing entrance. [78]

Figure 34: Region V Archeologist John L. Cotter delivers the keynote speech at the visitor center dedication. (NPS/Mrs. Clyde King, May 14, 1961)

Winning bidder at $119,334 (not including landscaping), C. A. Yeager and Company of Portsmouth, Ohio, began work on September 21, 1959, with Brewer and Brewer of Chillicothe constructing the roadway. [79] Yeager finished work, including that of a gas and oil house measuring twenty-four square feet, on May 5, 1960. A separate landscaping contract came in late May with work held up until fall because of difficulty in finding the specified flagpole. [80] Limited use of the visitor center came on May 13, 1960, with existing office furniture and exhibits. The new museum displays were installed in early July along with Mound City Group artifacts from the Ohio State Museum. A tentative dedication, planned for early October, was postponed until May 1961, pending finishing touches and selection of an appropriate lead dignitary from Director Wirth's staff. [81]

The most popular visitor service came on August 8, 1960, when speakers were installed on the visitor center's roof and panoramic viewing platform. A recording operated by push-button related the interpretive story of the mounds and the Hopewell culture. It remained available even during the visitor center's after-hours and received very favorable public comment. [82]

Dr. John L. Cotter, regional archeologist, served as keynote speaker at the May 14, 1961, visitor center dedication with Mayor Nicholas H. Holmes the master of ceremonies. Also on the program was James H. Butt, president of the chamber of commerce; Superintendent King; Ross County Historical Society director Eugene D. Rigney; and Ohio Historical Society director Erwin C. Zepp. In his keynote address, Cotter spoke about the park's significance: "Mound City Group is a silent but eloquent testimonial of mankind and his noble effort to honor the past and dedicate himself to the future. It is the story of a people who, from the remote centuries of which we can only surmise a history, draw a living tradition of ceremony to which they devoted some of the finest prehistoric art known to modern man." [83]

Upon completion of the visitor center, several additional MISSION 66 projects were funded. A June 30, 1961, contract provided for modifications to the entrance gate and signage. [84] As part of the Kennedy administration's "New Frontier" public works program in 1963, $85,000 were earmarked to accomplish four Mound City Group projects. First, reforestation "back to the days of Squier and Davis" saw 139 large-sized trees planted along with 1,400 seedlings. Second, workers installed 5,210 feet of split-rail chestnut fencing along the park's north, south, and west boundaries. Third, came an ethnobotanical trail featuring stone walls and a pathway along the Scioto River as well as an interpretive audio station. The fourth and final MISSION 66 project, an earthworks restoration, involved the borrow pits and several other mounds, two of which had never before been opened (see Chapter Four). [85]

Figure 35: MISSION 66 also saw a chestnut rail fence erected around the monument's boundary; looking north from the entrance road is the new fence along tree-lined Highway 104. (NPS/Richard D. Faust, June 1963)

Figure 36: Another MISSION 66 project included construction of an ethnobotanical trail, part of which paralleled the Scioto River. (NPS/John C. W. Riddle, August 1963)

Superintendent Clyde B. King's sixteen-year tenure at Mound City Group National Monument constituted a period of dramatic change. King arrived in 1946 to find a largely undeveloped park being operated exclusively as a playground. Park visitors, preoccuped by recreational pursuits, had scant knowledge of the prehistoric earthworks. King immediately set to work formulating an interpretive program spending countless hours conducting historical research and utilizing historical society and museum archives in Chillicothe and Columbus. He personally designed and constructed the exhibits in the small museum room, and never missed an opportunity to wax eloquent on the Hopewell culture. Following long-held NPS policy, King worked tirelessly to curtail and nearly eliminate picnicking at Mound City Group. He cultivated allies from within and outside the Park Service to stave-off attempts to turn the park over to the state. King believed strongly in his park and worked tirelessly for it to be transformed from a playground to a legitimate national monument. His dream for Mound City Group was only fulfilled through the auspices of MISSION 66. In his zeal to achieve NPS goals, Clyde King damaged himself in terms of community goodwill and, by extension, caused strained relations with superiors in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Nonetheless, King's tribute as "Mr. Moundbuilder" remains legitimate and enduring. Clyde King's strength and vision truly transformed Mound City Group National Monument from a roadside municipal picnic ground into a modern, fully-functional unit of the national park system.