Garrison Hill's past features powerful Dover women

In past articles we've reviewed two of Dover's recreation areas — Henry Law Park, 6 acres in midtown and Guppey Park, 39 acres on the westerly side of Portland Avenue. We drive by them on a regular basis, and they both include popular community activities such as the indoor pool and the ice arena. But the largest of our city-owned park/recreation properties is largely unseen from any street, and this has a long and interesting history.

This would be Garrison Hill, an elevation of 298 feet at the summit, topped by a steel tower of another 76 feet. The present "park" area is approximate 8.5 acres, but the total city acreage — with the potential for future recreational development — is close to 55 acres.

During the 1700s, the area was known as Varney's Hill for Ebenezar Varney, whose home was located at the westerly base of the hill. Nearer the mid-1800s, it was officially designated Garrison Hill to acknowledge the earlier location of one of the Garrison City's garrisons, owned by the Heard family. During the 1800s, the hill area was largely open land, owned and farmed by several families. In 1880, two local entrepreneurs — Joseph Ham and Harrison Haley — purchased land on the top and installed a 65-foot wooden tower, for which they charged 10 cents to climb. There was a restaurant at its base, and a roller-skating rink. The hope was that this would become a "destination" because Haley was also the owner of the Dover Horse Railway, and he extended the line north from what was then still Franklin Square to connect with the existing carriage road to the top. (This original route still exists, but is now little more than a footpath.)

The horse railway had not been a total financial success for Mr. Haley, so in 1888 he looked to sell the business, and the buyer turned out to be one Mary Dow. And Mary Dow was a force to be reckoned with.

She was born in Dover in 1848. Her family moved to Boston when she was a child and she completed her education there, but returned to this area to serve for several years as vice principal of the Rochester High School. She then moved West for a time, teaching French and German at a girls academy in St. Louis, while at the same time serving as a correspondent for several Boston newspapers. Returning to Dover, she married George F. Gray in 1875. He was an owner and editor of the Dover Gazette, then a local weekly newspaper. The marriage produced three children while they spent the better part of two years traveling in Europe.

George Gray died in 1880. Five years later, Mary married Henry Dow, a local physician, who lived across the street from her home on Locust Street. They also spent some time traveling in England and when in Dover resided at 30 Silver St. (perhaps the third oldest still existing residence in town. Mary (Gray) Dow's daughter, Ruth Gray, continued living in that home well into the 1950s.

Apparently, Mary had been investing some of her funds (both Mr. Gray and Dr. Dow were quite well off) in the Horse Railroad stock because when Haley put it on the market, she owned enough of an interest not only to buy the business but also (to the consternation of the all-male Board of Directors) but to be named president of the corporation. This became national news, the first woman CEO of a railroad, even one as small as the Dover Horse. Within the next year, and contrary to today's experience of most corporate takeovers, she reduced fares, thereby increasing ridership, increased employee salaries, and boosted income by selling advertising space on the printed tickets. Having turned things around she then sold the business at a profit to Henry Burgett, who was in the process of developing his own amusement/recreation area on the Somersworth side of Willand Pond. Within a year or two he had electrified the rail line and extended service beyond Garrison Hill to his new enterprise. The roller skating rink atop the hill was dismantled and moved to the new Burgett Park.

Meanwhile, the city had constructed a two million gallon in-ground reservoir adjacent to the still existing wooden tower, but after that structure burned in 1897 the area fell into disuse for recreation.

The next chapter involves Joseph and Abbie Sawyer. Joseph was from an old Dover family, long before the Sawyer Mills Sawyers, and several generations had owned land on and around Garrison Hill. Joseph was born in 1832, and after schooling in Dover he also headed West and did well financially in the fledgling oil industry. Returning to New England he married Abbie in 1894, and several years later moved into one of the Sawyer family homes on Central Avenue. He died in 1905 and Abbie died six years later. In her estate she left the sum of $3,000 for the construction of a new tower at the top of the hill provided that it be made of iron — to reduce the threat of fire — and asked that it be named for her late husband.

The new tower was dedicated in 1913 and the area on the north side of the hill was developed first into a toboggan run and later as a small ski area with a rope tow and a warming hut. But over time, with a few bad winters, dwindling attendance, and declining financial support from the city, the ski area closed in the early '60s. The city did not make a real effort to maintain Abbie's tower, and eventually the lower levels were removed to prevent climbing and access was closed off with fencing. The reservoir was filled in with debris from Dover's downtown Urban Renewal project — that would have been the mid-'70s — and a new enclosed above-ground structure was constructed. In 1973, the city petitioned the court for permission to waive the provisions of Abbie Sawyer's will and tear down what was left of her tower.

That prompted a response from a group of local citizens, led by Irene York, who was a local businesswoman, to organize and begin raising funds for a proper replacement. It took 20 years, but the volunteer group persevered with fundraising and other activities sufficient to raise a new structure based on the old 1912 plans, and a formal dedication took place on August 6, 1994. The area around the tower has been cleared to allow several outdoor activities, and what had previously been known as Ascension Avenue, the main road to the top, is now Abbie Sawyer Memorial Drive.

The view from the top of the tower on a good clear day can be well worth the climb.