Springfield Parks, Greenways and Outdoor Spaces

3/20/16

I have lived in Springfield, Missouri continuously for over 35 years plus I attended college here prior to that. I have spent a lot of time at the various parks and trails in Springfield but have frequently noted that there were places I had never visited. So I decided recently that one of my goals for this year was to visit EVERY Springfield-Greene County Park. After accomplishing that goal, I want to visit all the the Ozark Greenway trails not included in the park list and any other outdoor spaces that I discover.

I printed off a list of 102 Springfield-Greene Park facilities. Some of these are more or less duplicates--for instance the Dan Kinney Park and the Dan Kinney Family Center are separate listings along with other similar duplications. It appears that most of the Ozark Greenways trails are included as well. So my goal for the end of the summer...likely sooner...is to visit all 102 of these facilities.

The OCD part of me would have liked to check off the parks in alphabetical order but, of course, geographical order makes more sense. Today Charlie and I visited 10 of the parks/facilities on the list on the southeast side of Springfield, Missouri. Here are my thoughts/descriptions in the order we visited.

#1. Dan Kinney Park 2701 S. Blackman Road

We had never been to this location or any of the three facilities located at this address before, only driven by . This park is located on Blackman Rd. just north of Battlefield St. This is a newer park with handicap accessible playground equipment including accessible swings which I had never seen before. All of the equipment was of the new style and looked like a lot of fun. Along with a large jungle gym/slide apparatus with a ramp, there were bongo drums and speaking tubes. There is a 7/10th of a mile track around the perimeter of the park which we walked. The temperature outside was cool....about 45 degrees....and we were the only ones in the park.

#2. Miracle Field 2701 S. Blackman Road

This is a ballfield in Dan Kinney Park. It has a really nice electronic scoreboard with graphics and the entire field surface is artifical. There was nothing going on today and the staff member we spoke with inside the Dan Kinney Family Center wasn't sure what type of teams played here but according to the Park Bench publication, this is a 1/3 size barrier-free field designed especially for players with physical or developmental disabilities. The cushioned synthetic surface allows players to use walkers or wheelchairs. The entire facility is accessible.

 #3. Dan Kinney Family Center 2701 S. Blackman Road

This is a fitness center with machines, free weights, a gym, a room with a ping pong table, a room for classes, and a (very short-1/16th mile) indoor track. If there isn't a class going on, the classroom has a virtual class feature where you can select an activity and a large screen comes down and shows you a workout. There are memberships available for the facility and there is also a community room available for rent. There were several people using the equipment and a couple of people on the indoor track when we were there. The staff was very nice and informative and took us on a brief tour. We spent about 40 minutes total inside and out and walked 1.15 miles at Dan Kinney Park.

#4. Oak Grove Park 1538 S. Oak Grove

This park is north of Sunshine St. and south of Bennett St. on Oak Grove Ave. We lived close to this facility for several years so we had been here many times but not for probably 25 years and had primarily been inside the community center for ball games/practices, dance classes and Jazzercize classes. The park is very large and I don't think we had ever walked the entire park before. There is both a large modern play structure with slides plus the original swings, slide and jungle gym that were here 35 years ago when we first visited. There is also a sandbox and a 9 hole frisbee golf course. There were two groups playing frisbee golf when we were here. We walked the perimeter of the extensive grounds which were surrounded by houses, most with gates opening into the park. Charlie said he never knew that the park was this big!! We spent about 20 minutes here and walked 0.65 miles.

#5. Oak Grove Community Center 1538 S. Oak Grove

We didn't actually go inside today, just walked around outside. We have been in the gym several times years ago. There was a banner in the window advertising birthday parties with a bouncy house and a climbing wall and there were people arriving for a birthday party when we were there.

#6. Lurvey Park 950 S. Oak Grove

This small park is north of Grand St. on Oak Grove Ave. I had never known of this park's existence before today. It appears to have been around for awhile because the equipment was all older. This is a small neighborhood park with no parking. We had to park on Belmont St. and walk a short distance. There is a brown sign with the name at the dirt path entrance going between two houses. The only equipment is two swing sets-toddler and sling swings-and and older slide. It is completely surrounded by houses with gates opening into the park grounds and I imagine the only ones who use/know about it are immediate neighbors. We were the only ones here. We walked the perimeter and spent 8 minutes and walked a 1/4 of a mile.

#7. Ooley Park 2624 E. Monroe Terrace

This tiny park is is a couple of blocks north of Lurvey Park and a block east of Oak Grove Ave. and is about the size of a large residential lot. This park is in the elementary district my kids went to in the 80s so I had actually driven by here several times to take my kids to friends' houses but had never actually set foot on the grounds. There is no sign and no designated parking but space to park on the grass. This is another neighborhood park with only a few pieces of playground equipment and apparently also serves as a water retention area. There was a large culvert visible opening into the park and evidence of recent flooding.There were 2 swing sets and a newer bouncy dinosaur for small children. I probably spent a couple of minutes walking around and taking photos. There was no one else around.

#8. Miles Park Site of Bingham School Park 2000 E. Cherry

This small park is obviously right next to Bingham Elementary on Cherry St. just west of Barnes Ave. We have been here many, many times but not for over 20 years. My kids attended school at Bingham for 10 years and this was also about 4 blocks from our house and I frequently waited here for the kids to get out of school. There is now a modern play structure with a bouncy bulldozer and dinosaur plus the same swings and jungle gym my kids played on in the 80s as well as picnic tables and a small open pavillion with 2 tables. There are a couple of parking spots in the back of the park on Monroe Ave. and you can park off Cherry St. at the school if it is not in session. There is also additional playground equipment and an approximately 1/4 mile track on the Bingham grounds which are open to the public when school is not in session. There was one group of children here today. We spent 8 minutes here and walked about 1/4 mile.

#9. George Washington Carver Park 800 S. Belview

This is a 25 acre "natural area" between Grand St. and Cherry St. east of Barnes Ave. There is no sign, no marked parking, no facilities and no real indication that it is a city park. If you go to the Belview address(off Cherry St. east of Barnes Ave), there is a locked metal gate. There is also an entrance off Grand St. just west of Oak Grove Ave. with a wooden fence and a chain and no place to park at all. I went here once 25 years ago and recall it had lots of tall grass and piles of shredded tree limbs presumably dumped here by city crews. Parts of the area did appear to have been mowed today and we didn't see anyone else around.  We went by the Belview "entrance" first and it didn't look accessible and we weren't actually sure we were in the right place but I remembered there was an entrance off Grand(there used to be a sign here but it is gone now) so we drove around to Grand but didn't get out and walk around due to the lack of parking. We will probably try to come back and walk around some other time.
5/7/16 update: We attempted to visit this park back on 3/20, the first day of our park journey. Today we parked on Belview Ave. and had to duck under a wire to get into the park from here but there was a well-worn path. We then walked down a rutted service road through woods and it initially didn't seem like we were in a park at all but then it opened out into this surprising large mowed, open area surrounded by trees. It is mowed all the way up to the entrance on Grand St. but there is no parking on Grand at all. The area is really very nice and would be a great place to walk a dog or to just walk around. There are no amenities but someone has hung a tire from tree. I was pleasantly surprised at nice this ended up being and I am glad we came back.

#10. Meador Park 2500 S. Fremont

This park is just west of Glenstone Ave bordering the north side of the Battlefield Mall with an entrance and parking lots on Sunset St. as well as on Fremont Ave. This is another park that we have visited many times in the past but not recently. Charlie and some of the kids played ball at the multiple ball fields and the kids took swim lessons at the pool. We went to a few MSU Bears(when they were just SMSU) baseball games here before they moved to Hammons Field downtown. The Drury Panther softball teams play here now. There are multiple ball fields, a pool complex, tennis courts, small basketball courts, picnic tables, and a playground. It struck both of us that it didn't seem as nice as it used to when we were last here. The pool is literally a swimming pool with no modern play structures or slides like those found at some of the other city pools. There are marked swimming lanes and an bumped out, deep area with diving boards. There is also a large detached wading pool. The pool has recently undergone some repair and there was a pile of broken concrete outside the fence, some of the fence had been taken apart and had only bungee cords holding it closed and there visible concrete repair all around the pool. On the playground, there was a modern curved tube slide, a modern play structure and some small dinosaur play structures.The vintage jungle gym and swings were still there. There used to be this tall, silver, wedge-shaped "slide o' death" here years ago but it has apparently been replaced by the twisty tube slide.There was at least one ballgame going on and one family playing on the playground. We walked around the playground and outside the pool, spent 11 minutes and walked just under 1/2 a mile.

That was all for today. 10 down, 92 to go!! Overall, I think we spent around three hours on our park exploration including drive time. Hopefully, next time it will be warmer!!