David Hohmann of the Friends of Alum Creek and Tributaries had some interesting information...
Did you know the Alum Creek Trail (for bikes and other users) is going in along the creek from Westerville to Obetz? The part from Main to Livingston has been built this summer of 2002. It's part of Franklin County's Greenways plan.
A city park is being constructed now at the former Norwood Amusement Park site, by the City of Bexley in cooperation with Columbus, to be known as Pumphouse Park.
FACT is trying to celebrate the history of our local area along Alum Creek. I have heard from my dad that there were rowboat or paddle-boat rentals there too (swan boats?) on Alum Creek. An old set of stone stairs still leads down to the creek near the Main Street Bridge. It would seem appropriate to place a commemorative sign about the old Norwood Amusement Park at the new Pumphouse Park. Since Pumphouse Park is just going in, this would be a good time to do it. Who knows, maybe a design feature can mimic an old pavilion or something? I don't think Bexley has a big budget for the park work though.
All summer long I have watched as heavy equipment bulldozed a path around and through the Norwood Park site, a new wooden fence went up around the corner of Main and Alum Creek, and new landscaping has gone in on the Interstate-70 ramps around the site, and I wondered what was going on. I guess this is my answer! Mr. Hohmann also included the text of an advertising post card sent to him by a local realtor, Mike Peters:
Oh, there was one other business I forgot to mention, an amusement park. Norwoods was located just west of Bexley on the southeast corner of Main and Alum Creek Drive [where Pumphouse Park is now being built]. When we were young we used to beg our parents to go there. Norwoods had a Ferris Wheel, Dodge-em cars, merry-go-round, a train that went along the creek, numerous kiddie rides, a penny arcade, and a midway. For two or three dollars, a whole family could go to Norwoods on a Saturday night and have a great time. Norwoods would open in the spring and close in the fall. I believe it closed up for good sometime in the late 60's or early 70's.