Janet B. Hutchison: Park Founder and Long-time Volunteer

Portrait of Volunteer Janet Hutchison, circa 2008.

NPS

Quick Facts

Significance:

Red Cross worker who ran two GI recreation centers in the China-Burma-India Theatre during World War II, League of Women Voters leader who advocated for the establishment of Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, park volunteer who contributed more than 22,600 hours of service

Place of Birth:

Buffalo, New York

Date of Birth:

May 14, 1917

Place of Death:

Oberlin, Ohio

Date of Death:

February 14, 2014

“Janet Hutchison has achieved the gold standard of citizen commitment to the national park ideal,” remarked then Superintendent John Debo. It was spring 2008. Janet had just received both the Presidential Award and the Department of Interior’s Citizen Award for Exceptional Service. From 1976 until her retirement in 2011, she volunteered more than 22,600 hours. This is in addition to the 8,000 volunteer hours that she contributed between 1966 and 1975, advocating for park establishment as a key member of the League of Women Voters. At the time, Janet reflected, “I started working for the park before it was a park. Seeing what it has become is very exciting. I encourage others to get involved and lend a hand.”

During the early years of the park, Janet Hutchison remembered the first Cuyahoga Valley superintendent, Bill Birdsell, once saying, “Without the League, there’d be no park here.” Read on and see what you think.

Is there a cause you would dedicate your life to?

Career and Family Life

Janet Ingersoll Brown spent her childhood in Newton Highlands, outside of Boston, Massachusetts. She graduated from Oberlin College in 1938. Her career began as a teacher at Sleighton Farms School for Girls near Philadelphia. During World War II, Janet served with the Red Cross in the China-Burma-India Theatre, running two GI recreational centers on the Ledo Road. After the war ended, she continued her Red Cross work in Austria. She lived for a time in Chicago before moving to Cleveland Heights, Ohio. There she was an admissions counselor at Western Reserve College.

Janet met her first husband, John B. Schwertman, when she was a student. They had three children. Tragically, John was killed by lightning in 1956 while they vacationed at Indiana Dunes. Janet met her second husband, Bill Hutchison, at a dance. They married in 1961. Janet and Bill were founding members of the Kendal Community in Oberlin, where she lived until her death in 2014.

Memories of Park Establishment

On October 29, 1980, Janet Hutchison recorded an oral history with the National Park Service. Her memories shed light on the role of women as community leaders during the legislative battle to create what is now Cuyahoga Valley National Park.

“. . . I have been interested in this valley and the attempts to make it a park since . . . before 1970. I was working with the League of Women Voters of Cuyahoga County [Greater Cleveland] . . . doing water qualities and other environmental concerns when I came to know there was a move afoot to preserve this valley. . . . So I started on a set of ‘Go See’ bus tours as part of preparing our county for understanding the park . . . and be(ing) ready for action when the moment came.”

The League of Women Voters prepared a Cuyahoga Valley Study. Janet recalled, “I chaired the Cuyahoga County section and, as it turned out, I was the one who wrote it. . . . (T)here were at least a dozen gals in the League who did research on this in both counties, and this was the League’s first regional study for Ohio. . .” She continued, “I suppose you know that the League never takes a position on a question unless it has studied it first and come to consensus. . . . We had a perfectly tremendous unanimity that there should be a park in Cuyahoga Valley.” Janet said that Congressman John F. Seiberling published their League study in the Congressional Record on February 20, 1974, just before his subcommittee took up the study of the park.

Janet recalled how, in 1966, Congressman Charlie Vanik brought Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall to the Cuyahoga Valley to see if something could be done at the national level to save the valley. “Udall said at the time that this was important, and it deserved to be preserved, but under the then system there wasn’t any way to make it a national park.” They did not have the concept of a national recreation area until Gateway and Golden Gate became the first in 1972. “So, when Earth Day 1973 came along—that’s two years after the Earth Day when they first introduced [the legislation]—then Congressmen Seiberling, Vanik, and Regula were the chief sponsors for this bill again.” She continued, “It took a while to get the Senate involved . . . (T)he footwork was done beautifully in Congress by all our Congressmen and Congressman Seiberling is very generous by saying he’s not the only one—but he was always the lead-dog.”

Another key to success was the Cuyahoga Valley Park Federation. Janet said, “It’s where all the citizen effort was focused.” In contrast, Cuyahoga Valley Association was “rather quiet, a silent partner. But the Federation was The Action Arm! And it was through the campaign to get this law passed . . . that all these things happened: publications, speakers, slide shows, petitions, lobbying. The Federation Advisory Board met quite often . . .” As a park advocate, Janet estimated that she personally gave about 200 slideshows to various civic groups as well as bus tours.

Janet remembered how public opinion in the Village of Peninsula was fiercely split. Charlie Conger, treasurer of the Federation and of Cuyahoga Valley Association, “had a very difficult time because old friends of his . . . were either 100% with him for the valley or they were 100% ostracizing him and his wife! Feelings ran very high in the valley itself.” The main issue for park opponents was the loss of the tax base to support local government services.

After the legislation made it through the House and the Senate, advocates turned their attention to President Gerald Ford who was on a holiday ski vacation in Colorado. They feared that the White House would bow to pressure from the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of the Interior. The opposition was saying “No, no, no. We can’t afford this park and therefore don’t allow it to be.” Park supporters expected the president to let time run out on the bill during the December recess, resulting in a pocket veto.

But “public enthusiasm—in torrents—in an avalanche—came to the White House.” Janet said, “I remember at the time I had a very neat packet of petitions that had been signed in some very unusual places. I had signatures of the League of Women Voters that were concerned with the whole Great Lakes problems, and I just happened to be at a League meeting in Washington and they were signing petitions too. . .” She had a set from Hough, a predominantly Black neighborhood of Cleveland, where a social studies teacher organized her junior high students to get their parents to sign. Janet had senior citizen signatures too. The packet presented to the White House, along with others, demonstrated broad public support that came to a crescendo at exactly the right time, according to Congressman Seiberling.

When word came that President Ford signed the bill to create Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area, “There was great rejoicing!” Looking back, Janet said, “But this was the excitement—we got the park because the democratic system really worked here at a time when people were saying, ‘Well, maybe democracy can’t work.’ They were looking at the horror of Watergate. The juxtaposition of the two is to me very interesting—the two trends within the nation at the time.”

Volunteer Service

As a Volunteer-In-Park (VIP), before parks had computers, Janet created hundreds of finely drawn maps for park management. These detailed land ownership, trails access, potential picnic areas, and soil types. Her professional maps and graphics have been published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer as well as park reports and newsletters. At the end of her volunteer career, she completed a 10-year project documenting Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s legislative history. Her first-hand knowledge proved to be invaluable.

Learn More

If you are inspired by Janet’s story, consider becoming a Cuyahoga Valley volunteer and creating your own legacy of service. Current opportunities are listed on our website.

Do your own park research by visiting our archives at Hawkins Library. For an appointment, contact us at e-mail us.