DeWitt Park Historic District

The DeWitt Park Historic District is significant, both in its diversity of architectural styles, dating from 1820 to 1930, and in its association with Ithaca’s earliest settlers and one of its founders, Simeon DeWitt, who donated much of the park plots for civic uses. In its first years, Historic Ithaca acted to protect the DeWitt Park area. It was this concern that motivated Historic Ithaca to push for a local Landmarks Preservation Ordinance. By 1971, the ordinance was passed and DeWitt Park was designated as Ithaca’s first local historic district. It was also listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places in that same year. From the time of these early efforts and through the present, Historic Ithaca has led countless tours and published an Architectural Walking Tour of the historic district.