The "Straight Line" Walking Pathwas a Feature throughout SLI History; Let's Give the Footpath a New Heyday

For 81 years, there were no "Through Traffic" roads in the Silver Lake Institute. For the first 16 years, there was no motor traffic at all and it was a fully gated community. Back in the mid 1950s, Perry Ave., the widest of all Institute streets, was extended through the west end of Burt Park, crossed Genesee, and widened the old Kingsley Ave. footpath (after removing an abandoned cottage) to accommodate the width of the new county road as it wound its way south and east, crossing Ames Ave. and ending at Chapman Road, just about a car-length east of where Ames Ave. entered Chapman. That little strip of Ames became the driveway for the corner house and Ames no longer crossed directly over Chapman into the Camp Grounds as it had since the 1880s.

Many of the roads in the Institute have changed over time. Some were extended as more ground was added to the Institute, while others were shortened and dead-ended, usually to create larger lots, while other streets were completely eliminated or became private drives. The one thing that never changed over the 145-year history, was the ability to walk a straight line all the way from Camp Road over to one block south of Chapman Road. One could start at Camp and Perry and walk unhindered (after the horses and wagons were done delivering their loads to the cottages) down the length of Perry where it stopped at Embury Ave. 

After crossing Embury one began their walk on what was known as the Promenade as it made a straight line path through what was originally known as "Auditorium Park," now Burt Park. When reaching the end of the Promenade, one would cross Genesee Ave. and enter the most famous road of them all for many years--Ames Ave.  This exclusive footpath took one through the residential area, past the front of Epworth Hall, crossed Chapman Road, entered Palestine Ave., later known as Prospect Ave. where one reached the last big historical building of the Institute--the Hall of Philosophy, later known as Epworth Inn. It is the hope of both historians and of future planners of the Institute, to keep the straight line walk from Camp to beyond Chapman totally open for walkers now and in upcoming generations.

Click on "read more" to see three photos of Ames Ave. in its heyday.

To Enlarge the Photo, click on it.

Looking from the Epworth Hall end of Ames Ave. toward the Park. At the far end of the Ames Ave. Footpath, there are rows of chairs set up in the Park facing Park Ave. The Auditorium stood in the Park from 1888 to 1918 when arson destroyed it following a recent refurbishing.

To Enlarge the Postcard Photo, click on it.

This view of Ames Ave. is taken from the Park. We see the cottages on Genesee Ave. to the left and to the right, with Ames Ave. in the center. Ames started where you see the wooden pole in the middle of the footpath, preventing cars from traveling on Ames. At the far end you can see the wooden pole preventing cars from entering from the south side. The path you see in the center bottom of the photo (coming toward the camera) is the well warn footpath through the Park known as the Promenade which headed toward Perry Ave. If you look carefully enough, you can see a smaller path which enters Genesee at a 45-degree angle to accommodate walkers on the west side streets as they made their way to Epworth Hall and Epworth Inn.

To Enlarge the Photo, click on it.

This view of Ames Ave. is taken from the south end of the residential area, somewhat in front of Epworth Hall (on the left). Can you see the fence on both sides of Chapman Road? As you look south on this portion of Ames, you see a row of trees in the distance. They begin immediately on the other side of Chapman, as the roadway yields to the left, and Epworth Inn is located on the left of that treed road originally named "Palestine" and later changed to "Prospect." Several decades later, the Camp discontinued using road names in favor of a more camp-style layout.