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Ballard Park a nod to community’s past
Will an homage to the community’s past provide for some of its future outdoor recreation needs?
City officials hope so.
On Saturday, the Greencastle Parks and Recreation Department officially dedicated the 1.2-acre Walter and Eleanor Ballard Family Park on State Road 240 just east of the Greencastle Walmart store.
The site was donated by the Ballard family, represented by Phil Ballard, Sara Ballard Niles and Marilynn Sturgeon, in memory of their parents, Walter and Eleanor.
The city presently has no certain plans in place for the site, though Parks and Recreation Director Greg Ruark said he would eventually like to see “somewhat of a trail head” on the site adjacent to a section of People Pathways.
With brother Phil joining virtually, Marilynn and Sara unveiled a “Ballard Family Park” sign that Ruark said would later be more permanently set in the ground where it is easily visible to those using the pathways and motorists on 240.
The site was once the Ballard family homestead until the house was moved southeast to its current spot adjacent to the Putnam County Regional Airport — off of Ballard Lane, of all things.
The two sisters told a bit of the history of the property, which included not only their parents, but also Dr. A.C. Stevenson, the original owner of the property, who built the first house on the site in the 1840s.
Stevenson, who came from Kentucky, was crucial in the early history of Putnam County, helping to secure Indiana Asbury College, which later became DePauw University, and even serving as the first president of the college’s board of directors.
He was also key in the agricultural development of Putnam County, introducing new breeds of livestock to the area — including traveling to England to bring the first shorthorn cattle back to the community. He also helped organize the first gravel road in the county, one that stretched for 19 miles.
At the state level, Stevenson was once the president of the Indiana State Board of Agricultural and served in the Indiana House of Representatives and Indiana Senate.
Of course, the history of the Ballards on the land is what current residents might remember.
“We wanted to make this a memorial park to Mom and Dad,” Sara said. “That speaks to our love for them and all they did for us.”
She remembered them both being dedicated to helping others, including her father visiting people in jail and helping start the airport, not to mention his time as Greencastle mayor in the 1940s.
“He had a real love for farms,” she recalled. “This holds a lot of meaning. He always had a farm in addition to his job.”
That farm land is still south and east of the old homestead, sold to the city about the same time as the park was donated, in the name of the community center project that is still in the works.
As for mother Eleanor, she served as the first female member of the Greencastle School Board, serving at the time the current high school was built.
She also loved flowers, and her children hope to have some of her favorites planted at the park.
“Mom and Dad loved God first, and then loved their family and took care and raised us all,” Sara said. “And the last part of that is they loved their community and took care of it however they could.”
Their children believe the park and community center use the land “in a way that would make them proud.”