Five Residents of Worthington Hills Near Entrance to Neighborhood, 1969

This color photograph shows five people standing in the median of Clubview Boulevard S near the entrance to the Worthington Hills neighborhood in 1969. They are facing the camera smiling, with what appears to be a garden sprayer on the ground in front of them. Behind them a car and portion of an unidentified home are visible.

The photo is from the collection of the Worthington Hills Garden Club (WHGC), which was founded in 1967. One of the club's early projects was beautification of the entrance way to the new neighborhood of Worthington Hills. Handwritten on the back of the photo is: "1969 Our husbands pitched in and helped spray and seed etc. the grass on entrance way. Left to right: Bob Frech, Ken Coleman, Jim Gerard, Jack Dodson, Frank Schneider."

The neighborhood that would become Worthington Hills was purchased by Christopher Tone from Eri Bristol in 1841, according to the book "Worthington Neighborhoods" by Jennie McCormick. The Tone family moved from New Hampshire to Ohio, with Minor P. Tone continuing to farm on the land following his father Christopher's death in 1850. In the 1950s, Raymond E. Mason began purchasing the land that would form the neighborhood, transferring it in 1960 to "Olentangy Country Club Estates" to launch the concept of a neighborhood build around a golf course.

The neighborhood was platted between 1963 and 1968, and according to McCormick, offered "resort living around its own golf course and amenities for family living for which most homeowners in 1966 could only dream." Homes were typically larger than average, and more than half were totally air-conditioned. Some homes were "quiet conditioned," which featured insulated plumbing, noise-reducing baffles on heating systems and sound-proofed family rooms.

Active from the beginning, the Worthington Hills Garden Club held flower shows, sponsored planting events at nursing homes and schools, and held home and garden tours. Today, club membership is open to anyone, whether they are a resident of Worthington Hills or not, and the WHGC sponsors tours of central Ohio sites, promotes conservation and a love of gardening, supports charitable causes and invests in natural areas such as the Sawmill Wetlands.