Some of you, especially those not very familiar with the Village of Webster, might be surprised to learn that there’s an actual wooded park, complete with hiking trails, right in the village.
Milton R. Case Memorial Park is located on the south side of Spry Middle School, with trailheads off of South Ave. and Wood St., and behind Spry. It’s only about a quarter mile square, but features 14 acres of peaceful woods and several short trails.
I first became familiar with Milton Case Park six years ago when I was completing my ambitious 2016 Tour de Parks project, for which I was determined to visit every park in our eastside towns. I tried back then to find out who Milton Case was and why a park was named after him, with no luck.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got an email out of the blue, sent through the contact form of my Tour de Parks blogsite.
Lori R. wrote,
Milton R. Case was my grandfather. He was a long time pharmacist in Webster and owned the Webster Drug Store. He was married to Grace Kneeland. They had two children Gwen and Virginia. Gwen is 89 years old and healthy and lives in Portland Oregan. Milton was the mayor of Webster in the 60s. He had six grandchildren. He was a very upstanding American and loved his community and his country. He was in the Webster Rotary Club.
Lori’s email was a great start, but I wanted to learn even more about Mr. Case, so I enlisted the help of Webster Town Historian Lynn Barton, who was able to locate a photo and copies of his obituary.
The obituary provided a few more details.
Mr. Case was elected Webster mayor in 1965, succeeding Roy Hawley, who served for 34 years. He had served as a village trustee for 11 years before being elected mayor. He was a charter member and past president of the Webster Rotary Club, a member of the Webster Chamber of Commerce and Webster Methodist Church. He owned and operated the Webster Drug Store at 21 East Main Street, which he purchased in 1937 and closed in 1968 with plans to retire and do some traveling.
In 1970, Mr. Case suffered a neck injury in a car accident in Toronto. On Oct. 28, he was having minor surgery when he had a heart attack and died.
Now that we all know a little more about him, let’s make a point to remember Milton R. Case when we visit his park. If you haven’t been there yet, consider taking take an hour out someday soon to experience this quiet little corner of our village. You can read more about the park in my 2016 Tour de Parks Challenge entry, here.
If you’d like to check out the entire blog site I created from my Tour de Parks Challenge, click here. And by the way, the Village of Webster actually boasts 22 acres of parks and recreation areas. Click here to watch a short video I helped the Webster Public Library create which introduces them all.
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Hi, I’m having trouble with the link to the blog site for the whole challenge. The Case Park one works, but I would love to see the whole thing!
Let me check that. Try it again later this afternoon.
Milton Case was a really good neighbor on Elm Street, Webster. My husband and I took over his grandfather house in the 70’s. Milt was happy to see us move there.
I’m beginning to think I’m about the only person in Webster who did not have the pleasure of knowing Milton Case! Thanks for writing.