Waterloo Firemen's Park

ON WISCONSIN : TRAVEL : Prime days at the park: ball games and bands Posted: June 24, 2005 Dennis McCann E-MAIL | ARCHIVE Waterloo - Dorothy Jensen notes that one could easily miss Firemen's Park, so far off the main drag it sits and not on the way to anywhere. And she's right. In the many times I've met her Waterloo, I never noticed the park's great stone entrance, never saw its sprawling grounds and baseball fields, never heard of its early reputation as the most famous park in Wisconsin, and certainly never imagined a small town park would be deserving of its own full-length history. But Jensen, who once lived in a house that faced the park, thought otherwise. And having now visited the park and read her new "Waterloo Firemen's Park: By the People, For the People," I would agree that on the occasion of the park's 100th birthday it is worth the town's while to honor the playing ground that once put Waterloo on the map, and which for years brought former Waterlooans home to remember where it all began. Before it became Firemen's Park the grove of trees along the Maunesha River here was known as Lum's Woods, and nearly became known as a chicken farm. At least that's the story that goes back more than a century to when local firefighters were looking for a park site and a man named Faultersack was looking to site his chicken farm. By some accounts, owner Lum must have wanted a park in perpetuity more than poultry in a pot because he took less than market value from the Fire Department. Out to dinner So the department got its land, 36 hilly and occasionally swampy acres, and on July 4, 1905, it hosted a picnic to raise money for improvements, an event the local Waterloo Democrat saw as every citizen's duty. "Do not bother to get dinner at home on the Fourth," the paper declared. "Go up to the park and get a good feed, and help on a most worthy movement at the same time." 55184Waterloo Firemen's Park Click to enlarge Graphic/Bob Veierstahler For the people In 1906, dinner was served to 500 guests, the home nine won the baseball game, A. Crump won the potato race and Herman Becker the sack race. About The Book Proceeds from Dorothy Jensen's "Waterloo Firemen's Park" will go to the Waterloo Area Historical Society. The book is available from either Waterloo City Hall or Carousel Antiques in Waterloo, or can be ordered online from http://www.authorhouse.com/. Advertisement Many did, and after that day of food and drink and fireworks and baseball the improvement

שנה

2005

שפה

English

הוצאה

AuthorHouse

מהדורות

1

עמודים

248

ISBN

9781420819304

מקור הנתונים: Wikidata