Delano Park (Decatur)
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The Delano Park is the oldest park in the city of Decatur, Alabama.
It was created in 1887, as part of a master plan to "re-invent" the City of Decatur, then New Decatur. The city created the "Decatur Land Improvement and Furnace Company" for this specific purpose. The company employed a landscape architect by the name of Nathan Franklin Barrett to design a whole new city that had been ravished by a Yellow Fever epidemic and the Civil War.The park was designed to be the focal point of the entire plan.
The park, named after then President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was dedicated in the 1930s by Roosevelt himself. The land was donated to the city of Albany as part of the New Deal which included a large plan to develop the poverty ridden city.
- The cities of Albany, and New Decatur merged soon after the park dedication.
The park remained mostly a solitary attraction on the fringe of downtown as the only large park in town during that era. This changed in the mid 1950s when the new Decatur High School contructed a new school building to replace an overcrowding "Riverside" High School building.
The far eastern end once consisted of a swimming pool called the "Blue Haven." This pool has since been filled in, and the Decatur High marching band now uses a practice field that was created over the former swimming area.
The middle portion of the park contains a kid's playground, a drainage ditch with a concrete bridge donated to the park, and the new "Splash Pad."
[edit] Splash Pad
The "Splash Pad" was built as a part of a large plan to revitalize the whole of Delano Park. It was installed during 2006 and first became available for use in the summer of 06'. It features numberous jets and sprayers that issue water from both the walls and floor of the pad. The floor is a large scale map of the State of Alabama, it maps the main rivers and largest cities in the state, including:
[edit] Revitalization of Delano
Plans are currently underway to create many more attractions for the park. The group, "Friends of Delano," are leading an effert to add historical trails, gardens, higer levels of safety, and a way to connect the western portion with the middle portion of the park. So far, funding is in order, and the attractions are in the planning stage.
The historic "Delano Rose Garden" was re-created between the years of 2005 and 2006 as an exact restructuring of the former rose garden that once stood as part of the original Delano plan. The garden had been none existent for decades but was finally rebuilt in junction with the revitalization.
The need for a way to connect the western portion to the middle portion is a high priority for the city. 6th Avenue (US 31) successfully cuts the park in two, effectively depriving the western portion of much needed attention. A historical trail is expect to be built, beginning in the eastern portion, travelling through the middle portion and eventually connecting with the western portion in an attempt to spur more traffic at that portion. The trail is also supposed to allow for a safer crossing of 6th Avenue as it is one of the busiest streets inside Decatur.
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