If you had traveled west on Fourth Street a hundred years ago in the vicinity of North Main Street, one prominent element of the scenery that would have been most apparent was the News Building.
The Mansfield Daily News had its offices only a block from Main, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut Streets, and the building rose dramatically from the streetscape capped with a distinctive clock tower/cupola. You couldn’t miss it.
The old News building disappeared in the 1970s, and one thing that was missed was that angular landmark above the rooftops.
So when the Richland Carrousel Park was designed in 1991 the architect provided the city with an echo of the missing landmark.
Less than 20 yards from the News site the new pavilion sports an angular cupola definitely reminiscent of the former feature of the Fourth Street skyline.
It’s quite brilliant actually: fully functional in the present, and yet thoughtfully honoring the past. Thank you Dan Seckel.
So where, exactly, was the News Building? Check out the Mansfield Parking Lot Album for details:
