Mill Race Park: Difference between revisions
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== Mill Race Park == |
== Mill Race Park == |
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Revision as of 22:22, 9 February 2008
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Mill Race Park
Location: Columbus, Indiana (Bartholomew County) Mill Race Park is located where the Flat Rock and the Driftwood Rivers join together (forming the east fork of the White River) in downtown Columbus.
Date: 1989-1993 Designer: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates Constituency: City owned park, public at large
History
Mill Race Park was once a slum of the worst kind. In the 1950's, 1960's and before, people tried to live here in shacks and were infested with disease and vermin. Located in a flood plain the shacks were prone to flooding crreating an inhospitable place to live. Not surpisingly the area became known as Death Valley. In the 1960's, the park site was purchased by the city and cleaned up, transforming it into the first iteration of Mill Race Park. In the late 1980s a redesign/update was awarded to Van Valkenburgh Associates resulting in the completion of the current design of Mill Race Park in 1993. [1]
Covered Bridges: In the 1800s wood was plentiful in the United States, and was often used to build coverd bridges. This was done to protect the plank floors from the harsh winter weather. While many bridges are over a century old and still in use, there are just over 1,000 of them remaining in all of North America. Indiana has more than ninety such structures.
Features
Mill Race park is composed of 83 acres including a playground and an 84 ft. observation tower. The land is subject to severe annual flooding, during which sixty percent of the park is under water. The site features a loop road around the perimeter of the park, path systems, and two small lakes connected by a wooden bridge.
Key design features include a lake built as a perfect circle to contrast the soft natural curves of the surrounding river. The circular lake is defined by a masonry walk at its perimeter and surrounded by flowering trees. An earthen amphitheater, inspired by Native American earthworks found in the Ohio River Valley, is located at the end of a broad field, and forms a crest of land that remains above the water during floods. The covered Bridge harkens back to the local history of numerous covered bridges found across the landscape.
The park also offers fishing, basketball courts, and the People Trail. An interpretive boardwalk that ties the existing park wetland to a path system that continues into the surrounding community. Access to the park is provided by a new loop road and the introduction of a river walk.
Additionally the park is home to numerous events, festivities, and programs throughout the year.