Often overlooked in the story of the Park are the individuals who helped build and maintain the Park throughout the 20th century. Documenting them isn't easy, but here are some of the workers from 1930. This listing only includes the workers and their families who actually lived in the Park in April of 1930, but it does provide some interesting information.

The table includes the names and some basic information taken from the image of the census page which appears, in part, at the bottom of the page. As the image shows, census taker Ruth Lee carefully indicated when she was within the boundaries of the Park.

The "Head" was the head of household. Although it was possible to have more than one family in a dwelling house ( for example a double house or apartment building, in Letchworth Park each separate dwelling had one head of household and the either his relatives or boarders. All the dwellings were rented, since the actual property belonged to the State Park. Each structure, indicated by number of the actual census, has been separate from the next by a blank row. A (?) beside a name means we had trouble reading it and we might have the actual spelling wrong. The small case letters in blue correspond with notes we have added at the end of the list.

Which one is the Glen Iris? Probably none of them. Remember this is 20 years after the death of Mr. Letchworth, and the census was done in early April. A month or two later the Inn Keeper and the Glen Iris might have appeared.

Also note that although the bulk of the workers were "laborers", three of the workers were dedicated to forestry, indicating a strong commitment to that aspect of the Park.

 

The image above was taken from the 1930 census. The description below identifying each of the columns comes from www.census.gov.

"32 questions including 4 that were new (marked with an asterisk) for the 1930 census. Street, avenue, road, etc; House number; Number of dwelling house in order of visitation; Number of family in order of visitation; Name; Relationship of this person to the head of the family; Home owned or rented; Value of home, if owned, or monthly rental, if rented*; Radio set*; Does this family own a farm?; Sex; Color or race; Age at last birthday; Marital condition; Age at first marriage*; Attended school or college any time since Sept. 1, 1929; Whether able to read or write; Place of birth for person; Place of birth of father; Place of birth of mother; Language spoken in home before coming to the United States; Year of immigration into the United States; Naturalization; Whether able to speak English; Trade, profession, or particular kind of work done; Occupation industry or business; Class of worker; Employment; Veteran*"

The Veteran status does not show on the census, but there were no veterans among the individuals living in Letchworth Park.