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At the end of the nineteenth century, the four corners around the Broadway bridge were occupied by commercial and industrial uses such as the Ann Arbor Agricultural Works, the Michigan Central Railroad, and the Ann Arbor Gas Company. While providing Ann Arbor residents with employment, these industries made the riverside an unpleasant place to visit because of the smells and other pollution emitted by these industries. As the century turned, many Ann Arborites were beginning to think that parks would be a better use of the riverside.
Ironically, the presence of the Michigan Central Railroad provided much of the motivation for constructing a riverside park system. Since it acted as the primary gateway to Ann Arbor before the automobile, some citizens of Ann Arbor stressed that the area around the train station provided a negative first impression of the city as well as providing a hiding place for "criminals and lawless characters." Prominent citizens of Ann Arbor, such as Mayor Royal S. Copeland, believed "our city is damaged in the eyes of the traveling public by the unsightly and disgraceful outlook from the car windows." Citizens of Ann Arbor brought a petition asking the city to attempt to improve the image of the city by acquiring and beautifying the property just north of the rail lines.
Improving visitors' impressions of Ann Arbor was far from the only reason that residents of Ann Arbor wanted parks. The riverside parks provided a place to play, to rest, and to walk or drive a carriage. The parks also became places in which nature was presented to the public. When landscape architect O.C. Simonds saw one property Ann Arbor had acquired for a public park, he drew up plans to preserve some of the woodland native to the Ann Arbor area for future generations.
Changes in public culture early in the twentieth century made many people fear for the future of young people. Newly-built motion picture theatres and other locations such as pool halls led many educators and social scientists to fear that the younger generation spent excessive time loitering in unsavory locations. These people feared that young people would inevitably be corrupted by these environments. The parks provided one solution for people worried about the lives of young people in Ann Arbor. Levi Wines, a teacher at Ann Arbor High School and a member of the city's Park Commission, wrote a letter describing how the parks and their playgrounds could change the lives of Ann Arbor's youth.