Extending for over a mile along the Ohio River, Fernbank park comprises over 65 acres. Lee Park was initiated by a donation of 5 acres in 1912 by Milton Sayler. The first land-purchase for River Park was in 1913. The Fern Bank Dam, begun in 1905 and completed in 1911 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The construction of three new "high" dams at Chilo, Markland and Louisville in the late 1950s and early 1960s made the dam obsolete. It was dismantled in 1963, and the facility closed. It was transferred to the Cincinnati park board in 1974 under the Legacy of Parks Programs.
