Parks improve, grow

By Cathy Spaulding

Muskogee Phoenix

Leaders throughout Muskogee’s history have pushed for parks.

“We have nice-sized parks for a town our size,” said Muskogee Parks and Recreation Director Mark Wilkerson. “That’s partly due to the fact of early city leaders, who came from somewhere else, big cities in the east where they had grand parks. I think the desire for the city leaders to have a central park is probably why they worked towards Honor Heights Park, so we would have a regional park-like attraction.”

Honor Heights was established in 1909 on the north side of Agency Hill, after the city bought 40 acres from the Creek Nation, said Former Honor Heights Naturalist Tom Roberts. In 1911, a landscape architect was brought in from England to design the park. One of his designs was the waterfall flowing down Agency Hill.

Works Projects Administration projects added during the 1930s enhanced Honor Heights and other Muskogee parks.

“A lot of the big boulders you see throughout the park were part of that,” he said. “Those were all brought in on mule-driven wagon trains. All brought in by WPA workers.”

Boulders as big as a compact car were brought in by wagon train, Roberts said. The WPA built stone benches, picnic tables, even

Brooke Kilgore of Coweta shoots a photograph in the Beatrice Sheddan Children’s Garden, part of the Honor Heights Park Papilion. The garden and

Papilion are part of the evolution of Honor Heights Park. (File photo)

Former Honor Heights Park Naturalist Tom Roberts looks at one of the stone benches and tables the Works Progress Administration built at Honor Heights Park during the Depression. WPA workers also build a shady stone pavilion at Elliott

Park. (File photo)

PARKS AND GREEN SPACES

• Beckman Park, North 16th Street and West Broadway. • Bill Pool Park, Gawf and Foltz lanes. • Civitan Park, 3301 Gibson St. • Coody Creek Bark Park, 1121 S. Second St. • Depot Green, Third and Elgin streets. • Douglas-Maxey Park, South Sixth Street and West Southside Boulevard. • Elliott Park, Altamont Street and Tower Hill Boulevard. • Gulick Park, South Seventh and Elgin streets. • Honor Heights Park, Between Agency Hill and 48th Street. • King Park, Gibson Street and East Side Boulevard. • Langston Park, Euclid and Sandlow streets. • Optimist Park, South F and Independence streets. • Palmer Park, Honor Heights Drive and Denison Street. • Robison Park, Augusta and Gulick streets. • Rooney Park, 2300 Military Boulevard. • Rotary Park, South 24th and Elgin streets. • Spaulding Park, East Okmulgee Avenue and East Side Boulevard. IN THE WORKS: Grandview Park, behind Hilldale Elementary School.

A plaque honoring 1930s civic leaders T.J. and Willa Elliott (spelled “Willie” on the plaque) is on a boulder at Elliott Park, which bears their name. In the background is a playground the park shares

with Sadler Arts Academy. (File photo)

Veterans and others salute the flag during a 2021 Veteran’s Day ceremony at Depot Green.

The green space has become a popular gathering and celebration space. (File photo)

stone grills along the Audubon Trail, which winds up the north side of the hill.

Honor Heights evolved over the years, installing newer playgrounds, azaleas and the Papilion and butterfly house.

Community leadership led the way for Elliott Park, which sits atop Tower Hill.

The 29-acre park, with its own pool, was dedicated in 1936 by Willa A. Elliott in memory of her husband, clothier T.J. Elliott.

“Willa Elliott created the swimming pool so Black kids could have a place to swim during segregation,” filmmaker and historian Ray said in a 2014 Muskogee Phoenix story. She said children had been drowning at a nearby pond. Other pools, such as one at Spaulding Park, were segregated at the time.

The WPA built a stone pavilion overlooking the park. The pool was open until the 1990s. The park now has a splash pad and is the site of reunions and celebrations.

Other parks have interesting histories.

Civitan Park was originally surveyed by Daniel Boone’s son, Nathan. The park’s eastern boundary is the boundary of the Cherokee and Creek nations.

Spaulding Park’s Scout House once housed a tourist camp for people traveling along the Jefferson Highway, which ran from New Orleans to Winnipeg, Canada.

“Spaulding once had a band shell outside the swimming pool, a lot of famous people came to Muskogee and spoke from that band shell,” Wilkerson said.

Muskogee Parks and Recreation has grown and diversified with parks in all parts of the city and a trail system that stretches for miles. Depot Green, a grassy space in Muskogee’s Depot District, has become a popular gathering place.

Muskogee boasts a Swim and Fitness Center, Senior Center and Teen Center.

“We continue to expand our programs out at Hatbox with different activities,” Wilkerson said, referring to the Hatbox Event Center.

The department awaits federal funding to start redeveloping Grandview Park, south of Hilldale Elementary School, into a park with bicycle trails and an adventure playground, Wilkerson said.