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

The spring of 2025 left several large trees toppled over on the property at 503 Brown St. in Niles.

The city helped dispose of the trees, but the stumps needed to be removed. Then the ground was leveled off with new soil and grass seed planted. The entire lawn needed to be sprayed for crabgrass and other weeds.

Now fertilization has produced a healthy carpet of green grass around the museum. Clearing in the buffer area, on the north side of the driveway, was done by volunteers. They created a walkway through to the open field parking area, making access to the museum easier.

Several old bushes around the flower gardens had seen better days and needed to be removed. Their removal opened up the view of the formal flower gardens. The gardens had acclimated, through the years, many weeds and needed to be cleaned out. Fresh garden soil was added and the stone walkways around the 10 individual flower beds were freshened with new pea gravel.

More than 100 perennial flowers were carefully planted by volunteers with supervisor Brittany Jarrett recording each planting. The plantings are young, so the best display will be next spring when the flowers wake up to show off their new home to the public.

Fifteen flats of flowers were donated by Gilmore’s Greenhouse to show color and brightness to the inside of the glass greenhouse, which was first open for visitors to tour on June 29.

Visitors enjoyed walking through the little garden house, to the glass greenhouse and out the back doors to the brick patio filled with garden furniture and more colorful plantings.

Mrs. Waddell always enjoyed seeing vases of fresh-cut flowers in the rooms of her home. Naturally, she needed a greenhouse to protect and grow the flowers in the winter so she had the prestigious firm of Lord and Burnham from New York build the greenhouse in 1925.

Mr. Poole from Cleveland became her gardener. He also planted a fresh vegetable garden and a cutting flower garden just east of the greenhouse.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the building of the greenhouse in 1925. Due to years of rust in the greenhouse and termites chewing at the wood in the garden house, restoration was needed. Some replacement parts had to be shaped by hand and more than 400 pieces of glass were replaced.

The Niles Historical Society acquired a $30,000 grant along with $47,000 in local donations for the project. L.L. Klink Co. was contractor for the greenhouse and volunteer George H. John, master carpenter, restored the attached garden house.

The Mahoning Valley Historical Society honored the Niles Historical Society at the Historical Preservation Award Program in 2007. An engraved plaque was presented to George John, who thanked the society and the volunteers who donated to the project. George left a legacy of preservation of Niles history and his granddaughter, Laura Altobelli, is following with great pride by volunteering and working now at the Ward-Thomas Museum.

What we care for and protect today is the very thing future generations learn the history of and gain the knowledge of how life evolved into what Niles has become. The fundamental purpose of the Niles Historical Society is the preservation and promotion of the history of our city and what made it the city it is today.

The building of the greenhouse 100 years ago, and now being able to walk through it and visualize what it was like years ago, is a real treasure. After seeing delight on the faces of the people touring for the first time, it was certainly well worth saving, and to continue to care for it years from now.

There is so much history to learn about our town and the many people involved in the creation of it. Donations can be sent to the society at P.O. Box 368, Niles, OH 44446, with a notation “greenhouse” to help with the maintenance of the gardens and greenhouse.