Worthington Hills Garden Club Float in the First Worthington Hills Fourth of July Parade, 1973

This color photograph shows five unidentified people with the Worthington Hills Garden Club float in the Worthington Hills neighborhood's first Fourth of July parade, 1973. A person stands by the driver's door of the flatbed truck the parade float is staged upon, with four people seated on the float. Written on the side of the float is "America the Beautiful" with musical notes, and situated on the float are chairs and flower arrangements. In the background a home is visible; its address is unidentified.

The neighborhood that would become Worthington Hills was purchased by Christopher Tone from Eri Bristol in 1841, according to the book "Worthington Neighborhoods" by Jennie McCormick. The Tone family moved from New Hampshire to Ohio, with Minor P. Tone continuing to farm on the land following his father Christopher's death in 1850. In the 1950s, Raymond E. Mason began purchasing the land that would form the neighborhood, transferring it in 1960 to "Olentangy Country Club Estates" to launch the concept of a neighborhood build around a golf course.

The neighborhood was platted between 1963 and 1968, and according to McCormick, offered "resort living around its own golf course and amenities for family living for which most homeowners in 1966 could only dream." Homes were typically larger than average, and more than half were totally air-conditioned. Some homes were "quiet conditioned," which featured insulated plumbing, noise-reducing baffles on heating systems and sound-proofed family rooms.

This photo is from the collection of the Worthington Hills Garden Club (WHGC), which was formed in 1967. Active from the beginning, the club held flower shows and home and garden tours, as well as sponsored planting events at nursing homes and schools. Today, WHGC membership is open to residents and non-residents of Worthington Hills, and the club sponsors tours of central Ohio sites, promotes conservation and a love of gardening, supports charitable causes and invests in natural areas such as the Sawmill Wetlands.