John Canning presented “Riverview Park & Early Years of Wissahickon Hollow and Nature Club”.
John brought his “North Side” friends, Nancy- the Ranger at Riverview Park – and Ed. He had a dvd of old photos from the 1800’s which showed the beauty of the Allegheny Commons Park and the buildings of Old Allegheny City.
Riverview Park was created for the city folk to have a place to get away into nature. It was situated on the trolley line, and many neighborhoods were able to easily access it.
Riverview once had a zoo and a swimming pool. John spent his childhood playing in Riverview’s creeks and going to Summer Camp at the Wissahickon cabin, which was built in 1913. When the zoo closed, the nature cabin housed some live animals, such as snakes, frogs and a opossum.
Our Wissahickon Nature Club had its inception in 1941 at Riverview Park and took its name from the creek and cabin of the same name, where it held its meetings. When the cabin burned down, meetings were moved to other venues and today we meet at Fern Hollow Nature Center.
