EDITOR’S NOTE: This is part of a weekly series on our region’s history coordinated by the Trumbull County Historical Society.

Dedicated in 1915, Packard Park’s Japanese tea garden is the second of its kind in the United States.

It was the brainchild of W.D. Packard — one of Warren’s most well-known industrial leaders in the early 20th Century. Packard, a founder of Packard Motor Car Company and Packard Electric, most likely was inspired to create such a space after visiting the first (and then, only) Japanese tea garden in San Francisco.

As British-Chinese political relations stabilized at the end of the 19th century, there was a revival of eastern influences on western aesthetics. Interior design, furniture, dress, pottery and garden designs with Asian flair were all the rage. This style was very much geared toward a Western audience and introduced many Americans to different design and religious traditions.

This style was very much geared toward a western audience and introduced many Americans to different design and religious traditions.

Japanese tea gardens, in particular, were designed to “detach oneself from the hectic everyday world before entering the tea house and the tranquil world of the tea ceremony.”

Tranquility was key and plants, water and rocks were used to create an atmosphere that allowed the visitor to enter a kind of spiritual mindset.

Tea gardens were designed with an outer garden and an inner garden.

The outer garden was designed for reflection, creativity and relaxation to prepare the body for the inner garden, which was designed for meditation and where the pagoda would be located.

Even in 1915, the tea garden in Warren would have been quite a novelty. It was originally surrounded by fencing with an entrance through a gate or “torii.”

A stone path, “roji,” led through the garden and a koi pond.

The showstopper was the Japanese pagoda, which still stands today, though somewhat altered.

When W.D. Packard first proposed the garden, he was losing his eyesight, and landscape architect George Rettig created a relief model of the garden so that he could go over the design by touch with his fingers before he approved it.

The tea garden in Warren today has gone through a series of renovations over the past five years by the W.D. Packard Foundation, which provides support for projects at Packard Music Hall and Packard Park.

The Foundation has repainted the pagoda, built a new fence, cut down brush along the river edge, installed signage and hired a landscaper to develop a plan for traditional plantings. Part of that plan is complete, with the remaining work set to be done within the next couple of years.

Today, Warren’s tea garden is registered with the North American Japanese Garden Association. It can be rented for events through the city of Warren.

Reed is the executive director of the Trumbull County Historical Society.