Editor's note: Over a period of 12 years beginning in 1983, local historian Ken Munford wrote 561 columns for the Gazette-Times. As part of the city's 150th anniversary, the newspaper will publish a selection of these columns each Saturday. This one was originally printed on Dec. 5, 1988.

What is now Avery Park grew out of Avery's woodlot, sometimes known as the Tarwater place.

J.C. Avery's donation land claim, as staked out in 1845, was a mile square surrounding the mouth of the Marys River. He built a cabin on the north bank and kept a canoe handy to cross to the south side. He loaned it as a ferry for travelers on the old California Trail and for immigrants coming in from the south on the Applegate Trail.

On the south side he preserved a grove of young Douglas firs and oaks that had sprung up after the Indians quit burning the grasslands. He apparently planted others, probably the huge black walnut that today stands near the locomotive. It seems about the same age as those he planted in his yard in 1875.

Carl Merryman of Corvallis says that when he was a boy his mother would not let him play there. The man who lived there had a powder house - a place to store dynamite - and did not want anybody around.

A 1970 reminiscence by the late T.J. Starker related his long involvement with city parks. "As a professor of forestry at Oregon State College," he said, "I used Avery's Woods as a laboratory because at first the school had no lands of its own.

"The tenant on the tract was Ed Tarwater, a tough ex-seaman. He pastured cattle in the timber and warned people to stay off, sometimes with a shotgun. He cooperated with me because each year my students selected three of the most diseased trees. We cut them into sections to determine the cause of decay and to see how infection developed up and down the tree. This exercise gave the city boys a chance to use axes and the cross-cut saw known as the "Swedish fiddle."

"Tarwater allowed me to bring the students for evening bonfire meetings. On one occasion he gave us a suckling pig to roast and eat."

Starker and others saw the potential of the area as a public park. At a special election in July 1927, voters were asked to approve a bond issue of $17,000 to purchase about 58 acres. They smothered this proposal by a vote of 736 to 126.

Meanwhile the vigorous Douglas firs kept growing tall and straight. By the 1930s they reached an attractive size for piling, telephone poles, and posts. There were rumors that the owners were thinking about logging it.

The Corvallis Lions Club roared in disapproval. They could not let such a beautiful site near the city be destroyed. They raised $500 for an option to buy part of the tract for $6,000.

A plan of action evolved under the leadership of Charles Whiteside, president of the Chamber of Commerce. Volunteers began clearing a picnic site. A well was put down and a hand pump installed. Privies were put up.

For the Fourth of July, the Lions invited everyone to come picnic and to see fireworks. It brought out a crowd of delighted citizens with their families.

Soon thereafter a delegation of Lions, led by attorney Walter Durgan, proposed to the City Council that the city take over and exercise the option. After a bit of study, the council agreed. The heirs of Florence Avery Jones, the eldest daughter of J.C. and Martha Avery, signed the deeds on Jan. 6, 1938.

Since then, Avery Park has served the community, and the community has served the park.

Following the Lions' example, other clubs and individuals shared their energy, talents and skills to help the city produce a unique setting for recreation, socializing, education, scientific study and meditation.

It's a great place for out-of-town visitors to get a good look at Oregon's No. 1 timber tree, the Douglas fir.