The Nature Center was
the masterstroke among
those oppositional tactics.
Fostering environmental
stewardship among the region’s residents and especially its students – in short, education – has been at the
heart of the Nature Center’s vision since its founding, well before the freeway plans were finally put to rest in
1970. The Parklands had been used for student field trips for years, so the Nature Center’s education mission was
an outgrowth of what was already in place. During its first three weeks of operation in late 1966, more than 500
students from local school districts visited the Nature Center, before there were any bricks and mortar. Today,
upwards of 14,000 students from around Northeast Ohio annually participate in its numerous education programs.
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John C. Barber, a past president of the Nature Center,
wrote in the preface to the Center’s 50th anniversary
history, Preserving the Shaker Parklands (2016), that the
creation of the Nature Center was just one of a variety
of “oppositional tactics” against the despoiling of the
entire Parklands. “Those opposing the freeways had
varied agendas – preserving neighborhoods, communities,
parklands, even specific properties...”
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