Visitors to the Harvey S. Firestone Recreational Park will find one of the most popular features of the park refurbished as part of the park’s ongoing renovation by the Restoration and Beautification Committee of Columbiana. The 3 million dollar capital project to renovate the park began three years ago and has progressed steadily to date.

As part of a $250,000 construction project for improvements in the park funded by the Ohio Department of Transportation, the city of Columbiana and the R and B Committee, a section of the historic gutters along the roadway from the pool house to Springfield Road is undergoing work to repair wear and tear done by over 8 decades of weather and use.

To preserve the history of this iconic feature of the park, the bricks from the existing gutters were carefully removed by hand one-by-one, then cleaned, blasted and placed back into gutters individually, just as the earlier bricks were during the original construction of the gutters in the 1930’s.

Work also continues on other aspects of the upgrading of the park as part of the current ODOT grant. This includes re-alignment of the driveway at the main entryway of the park and an expanded pool entrance to provide a more enhanced and safer space for pool participants to be dropped off and picked up. Construction activities will also include the building of concrete paths along a new “Legacy Trail Loop” which will feature the location of “Harvey’s Lookout” and the site of the pioneer cabin of the Hanna family, settlers who lived on a plot of land in what is now Firestone Park and drew from a nearby spring. Benches will be placed along this historic trail and can be donated with plaques to honor family members or to commemorate special events.