Sydney Stevens’ column on Henry Tinker was a treasure of information. I knew the name of the man who founded the town of Long Beach and I was content with that bit of trivia, but Sydney schooled me. What a a treasure of information she presented, I never knew the life journey that took Tinker to Long Beach, or that he had relatives back in Maine in the resort business so that when he plotted the “square mile of sandy swamp” that eventually became Long Beach he probably had a resort in mind.

I was appointed by Mayor Fred Rutherford as head of Parks when I was on council. When the city hired the brilliant Nabiel Shawa as city administrator, he asked me to come visit him in his new office. He had Tinker’s original plot map of Long Beach that he had found in a safe in his office, he rolled it out on his desk and pointed out what he had discovered. There were plots in downtown labeled “Park,” “Park,” “Park,” “Park,” “Park,” “Park,” “Park,” “Park.” Henry Tinker’s vision of public squares. The railroad line had cut them in half and they were now eight little parking lots on eight corners with the road running threw them and side streets running along them. Somehow the park designation had been lost.

The city council eventually approved the development of the parks Henry Tinker envisioned. We may not have the two large squares that Henry Tinker imagined, but we have eight little ones with wood carvings and monuments and benches and lawns and trees and flowers and a visitors center and a restroom for the public. Thank you Sydney Stevens, for telling us the path of Henry Tinker. And, thank you, Matt Winter for heading up a paper with such stories.

BRIGID STUCKI BYRNE

Ocean Park