Observatory Avenue terminates in the heart of Ault Park - the fourth largest park in Cincinnati with its 223.949 acres.

Providing picnic facilities, nature trails, and children's play areas, Ault Park adds to its attractions with a splendid Pavilion and lookout point and beautiful gardens.

The unusual formal garden was first designed by George Kessler. His early design was modified by A.D. Taylor (both were nationally known landscape architects). The Taylor design was the one eventually adopted and constructed. Early gardens consisted of basically annual flowers in the formal beds with perennials (peonies and iris) planted beneath and between the large pyramidal English oaks which flanked the central grass allee.

In later years the dahlia test gardens were transferred from Fleischmann Gardens to Ault Park where they remained until 1983 when they were transferred to the Hauck Botanic Garden. Through donations and volunteer support, a new dahlia garden was planted in Ault Park in 1987.

The north garden was totally resdesigned in 1958 and a municipal rose garden planted. This included an American Rose Society All American Rose Selection section. This garden was discontinued in 1978 when budget cuts eliminated the florists charged with its maintenance.

In 1979 the Park Board attempted to gain local community support for a volunteer maintained floral garden. This effort failed and in 1980 it asked its' Park Board Volunteer organization, based at Krohn Conservatory, if it would organize an Adopt-A-Plot garden at Ault. The challenge was accepted and the effort was successful. This concept soon won national recognition with the selection of the Adopt-A-Plot Garden for the first place trophy in the 1983 Daniel Flaherty Park Excellence Award competition presented by the Chicago Park District and the Great Lakes Park Institute.

In 1964, Miss Blanche McAvoy donated her lifetime collection of Old Fashioned Roses to Ault Park. These were planted around the perimeter of the dahlia garden. The Park Board Volunteers became interested in expanding their efforts to this garden, revitalizing and adding to the McAvoy Old Fashioned Rose Collection. In 1985, The Hilda Rothschild Memorial Old Fashioned Rose Garden was established. The remaining McAvoy roses were rejuvenated and 200 new roses were planted, making this a truly outstanding collection of old roses. In the fall of 1985 The Greater Cincinnati Tree Council dedicated its "Trees for Your Road Arboretum". This tree grove planted around the entire perimeter of the formal garden provides the public with a collection of the currently recommended tree species for our area. The grove replaced the original flowering tree grove designed by A.D. Taylor, most of which had died.

The Pavilion, dedicated in 1930 with ceremonies arranged by the Mount Lookout Civic Club and other organizations in Cincinnati's East End, has an entrance consisting of a broad, double flight of steps, between which flows a water cascade. At the top of the steps you see the Pavilion's artistic columns outlined against the sky. From the Lookout on the Pavilion roof you can enjoy a 360 degree view - many miles of changing vistas in all directions. You can spot, also, from the Lookout, the Little Miami River flowing in its broad valley where once flowed the Ohio River itself in the pre-glacial age. Ault Park, like Alms, was once a vineyard area.

During the 1960s, the Pavilion fell into disrepair. By the 1970s, the condition of the Pavilion had deteriorated so far that it was deemed unsafe that access was prohibited and cyclone fencing was installed around the base of the hill. The cascade fountain had also deteriorated and no longer held water.

These photographs from 1982 will give you an idea of the condition of the Pavilion at that time:

Through City of Cincinnati funds and donations by citizens, the Pavilion has been completely renovated. Monica Nolan raised money for renovation of the cascade in memory of her sister, Nora May Nolan, a Withrow High School teacher, who was the leading spirit in arranging the annual July 4 band concert and fireworks display in Ault Park. In addition, over 150 donors bought balusters for the Pavilion.

The Smittie Memorial Concert Green, near the Pavilion, was dedicated on June 14, 1987. George G. "Smittie" Smith, a music teacher at Withrow High School for 30 years, led his band at the traditional July 4 celebration. He had given park concerts for 50 years.

A memorial bench of Bedford stone near the Principio Avenue entrance was a gift of the Cincinnati Garden Club.

Ault Park is named in memory of Ida May Ault and Levi Addison Ault, her husband, a former Park Commissioner who was prominently active in Cincinnati Parks development. The initial 142-acre tract in 1911 and 9 subsequent acquisitions were gifts of the Aults to the City of Cincinnati. Two other fractional-acreage tracts were given by W.E. Harmon and Paul C. Kunkel and others. A bronze plaque of Levis Addison Ault, designed by the famous Cincinnati sculptor, Clement Barnhorn, was presented to the city by the Commercial Club, of which Mr. Ault had been a member. The plaque, in commemoration of Levi Addison Ault's pioneer park work and generosity, is affixed to a glacier boulder of rose granite on the terrace to the south of the Pavilion.