Will L. Thompson

EAST LIVERPOOL – Thompson Park is celebrating its quasquicentennial anniversary this year. William Lamartine Thompson was the youngest son of Josiah and Sarah Jackman Thompson, and brother of Cassius Clark Thompson, who owned and operated the C.C. Thompson Pottery Co. in East Liverpool, Ohio. Not to be overshadowed after earning his Doctor of Music degree in 1870 from Mount Union College, Will founded the W.L. Thompson Music Company, and in the 1880s opened a music store on the corner of Fourth and Walnut Street in the city’s downtown. He also went on to become an internationally known composer. He donated 100 acres of land to be used as a public park in 1899 and is the one for whom the park is named.

To help celebrate this milestone event, The East Liverpool Beautification Society is partnering with the friends of Thompson Park to hold an “Old Fashioned Picnic Day” in the evening on the first Saturday of summer which is June 22. People are invited to pack a picnic basket, bring a blanket or outdoor chair, and join us to eat and relax at 6pm on the grounds of the top center green. For everyone’s convenience, and for those who would rather purchase their food, the Daddy & Daughters Grillers’ food truck owned and operated by Wellsville native Cliff Perry will be on site, as well as Fresh on Fifth from the heart of historic downtown East Liverpool. Rutana Concessions from Columbiana will also be on site serving up their “Original” Hot Apple Dumplings with Ice Cream and old-fashioned root beer floats.

Those in attendance will be entertained at 7 p.m. when they get to meet and greet Will Thompson, as portrayed by local musician and singer Bill Crawford, and hear about his life during a first-person presentation. Choir director Aaron Bunfill, from the East Liverpool High School and the First United Methodist Church in downtown East Liverpool, will also be leading a choral group in a live performance of some of Thompson’s compositions.

Members of the Beaver Valley Chapter of the Model A Ford Club of America will also be on site from 6 to 8 p.m. for an antique car show. Keith Sevy from East Liverpool has been a longtime member of the group. The Model A was produced from 1927 to 1931. It replaced the Model T, which had been produced by Ford for the previous 18 years. Tri-State Ford in East Liverpool is one of our proud sponsors of this event. Milligan Hardware, one of the only East Liverpool businesses older than the park, is also a sponsor. The Pottery City Antique Mall, which was originally the W.L. Thompson Music Store on Fourth and Walnut Street, is also a sponsor and generously donated the 125th Anniversary event banner.

Guests are encouraged to stay — or just come later for the movie — to relax and stretch out under the stars to watch an Academy Award-winning family film on the outdoor big screen provided by Robert Bailey with Occasion Nation which is suited to the event to end the evening. It will begin when the light fades about 9 p.m.

The memorial plaque to Will Thompson at the park entrance, provided by the East Liverpool Lions Club, states the following:

“Will L. Thompson [born in] 1847 [and died in] 1909 donated 100 acres of land to the city of East Liverpool, Ohio to be used as a public park in 1899. Born in East Liverpool, was author and composer of ‘Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling’, ‘Gathering Shells by the Seashore’, and many other religious hymns and popular songs published throughout the world. Owner of the Thompson Music Company. Donated land for the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church. Started the East Liverpool Historical Society. And served as first president. Was president of trustees of Carnegie Library. Received Doctor of Music from Mt. Union College. Studied at Boston Conservatory of Music and in Leipzig.”