05.18.2018 | GREENVILLE JOURNAL | 13
COMMUNITYJOURNALS.COM
Meadowbrook ballpark and the city stockade circa 1954. Photo provided by Greenville County Historical Society
The Roots of Unity Park 1907
In a report for the Municipal League of Greenville, Boston landscape architect firm Kelsey & Guild suggests Greenville restore the Reedy River and develop several parks along it, including the area where Unity Park is being built.
1920s
City built a convict labor camp at the corner of Mayberry and Hudson streets. It also created Mayberry Park for “negro children.”
1938
The city leased almost half of Mayberry Park to Joseph Cambria to build a minor league baseball stadium.
1949
Greenville’s Tree Park Commission installed a playground for black children near Meadowbrook Park. It was open six hours a day, five days a week.
2008
Landscape architect Tom Keith of Arbor Engineering’s renderings for the park contained a tower because he said a vertical element was needed.
2012
City buys 33 acres of land for $3.1 million on Fairforest Way next to the Duke Energy Operations Center for relocation of the public works department.
2013
Jay STINKS at Fishing.
City hires DP3 architects and Harper Bros. construction to come up with plans for relocating the public works complex from Hudson Street to Fairforest Way property.
September 2013
SeamonWhiteside produces a master plan for the park as part of the city’s “Connections for Sustainability” HUD grant.
February 2016
Ohio-based firm MKSK is hired to do a master plan for the park and the area surrounding it.
February 2017
City Council passes a resolution that commits up to $2 million a year in hospitality tax revenue for up to 20 years to pay for the park.
November 2017
Greenville moves its public works campus, paving the way for work to begin on Unity Park.
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May 2018
Unity Park is chosen as the name.
2020
Projected completion date for park’s first phase, which will include a tower and green space.
Jay McDonald, Production Manager | NMLS: 659243 864.915.3031 | jmcdonald@primelending.com 142 Milestone Way, Greenville, SC 29615 All loans subject to credit approval. Rates and fees subject to change. ©2018 PrimeLending, a PlainsCapital Company. (NMLS: 13649) Equal Housing Lender. PrimeLending is a wholly owned subsidiary of a state-chartered bank and is an exempt lender in SC. V010918