50 writers share their memories of growing up in Mill Creek Park in Youngstown, Ohio during the last half of the 20th century. This collection of stories and photos may trigger your own memories of growing up without a strict schedule; when kids could spend the day dreaming, playing, exploring. If you are lucky enough to live near Mill Creek Park or any park, these stories may help you to reconnect with nature and your early years. If you love parks, you will love this book.

With stories of inventors, movie moguls, local cuisine and sports heroes, Editor Mark C. Peyko and the writers of the Metro Monthly not only chronicle the history of Youngstown, but also capture the essence of their home. The blows of hammers and the humming of mills once echoed throughout the Mahoning Valley. Steel reigned supreme, and immigrants from every corner of Europe came to forge new lives and an enduring community. When the sounds of industry were silenced, Youngstown remained a strong and vibrant community. Peyko and company create a portrait of their city through a beautifully rendered collection of vignettes.

Founded in 1891 as OhioÃ's first park district, Mill Creek Park encompasses a unique wealth of natural and designed features that have been the backdrop for generations of family memories, spanning three centuries. A remarkable visionary, park founder Volney Rogers argued that the land itself could improve the lives of YoungstownÃ's residents. Through fresh air for mill-weary lungs and tree laced horizons for workroom-bound spirits, he knew a park would make the community a better place for families. And he succeeded magnificently. Rogers and the nationally known landscape architects that he hired created breathtaking vistas of LantermanÃ's Falls and scenic gorges and designed trails, drives, and three pleasure lakes. Other park features include nature preserves, display gardens, recreational fields, a Donald Ross-designed golf course, and a legacy of historic structures. Mill Creek Park indeed has earned its legendary claim as the most beautiful urban park in America.

The First World War claimed over 995,000 British lives, and its legacy continues to be remembered today. Great War Britain: Kidderminster offers an intimate portrayal of the town and its people living in the shadow of the 'war to end all wars'. A beautifully illustrated and highly accessible volume, it describes local reaction to the outbreak of war; charts the experience of individuals who enlisted; the changing face of industry; the work of the town's hospitals; the effect of the conflict on local children; the women who played a vital role on the home front; and concludes with a chapter dedicated to how the town and its people coped with the transition to life in peacetime once more. The Great War story of Kidderminster is told through the voices of those who were there and is vividly illustrated through evocative images from the archives of local families, the Museum of Carpet and the Kidderminster Shuttle.

Sprinkled with flowering dogwoods and elegant estates, Fairfield has long symbolized Connecticuts elite Gold Coast. But there is far more to this leafy suburban enclave than stately homes and inviting forests. Founded in 1639 by Roger Ludlow, Fairfields New England roots run deep. British soldiers torched the village in 1779, and for a time the community teetered on the brink of extinction. But the settlers rebuilt with a vengeance, helping to establish a new foundation for what has become a truly dynamic town. From its founding to the present day, Fairfield has enjoyed a rich and diverse history. Let author Rita Papazian guide you through it all in Remembering Fairfield.

Vivian Gibson grew up in Mill Creek, a neighborhood of St. Louis razed in 1955 to build a highway. Her family, friends, church community, and neighbors were all displaced by urban renewal. In this moving memoir, Gibson recreates the every day lived experiences of her family, including her college-educated mother, who moved to St. Louis as part of the Great Migration, her friends, shop owners, teachers, and others who made Mill Creek into a warm, tight-knit, African-American community, and reflects upon what it means that Mill Creek was destroyed by racism and "urban renewal."