CHARLESTON

The city without a Park

Charleston is the only city of its size without a formal Park.  Most cities in WV have Parks, like Huntington, which has a beautiful Park for its citizens to enjoy.  Even small towns have nice Parks, but not here. Charleston was once offered a Park, and even had a small park at one time.  Lets look at the history of Parks in Charleston.  It all started with Abney Park....

HERE'S HOW THE PARK WAS TO BE LAID OUT:





SO.. WHAT HAPPENED?





This was just an excuse. The city had no intention of ever making this land a Park



This was the real reason, but the city had plenty of money for other projects.



In the meantime, another Park was underway.
The old Charleston General Hospital property







By the early 30's this little glitch was resolved...



And so we had a nice Park on the hill overlooking the city
This would last through the 60s...





The site was up for big plans....




The City Park was kept up fairly well, but nothing was ever really added other than some picnic tables and
a few fire pits. I actually dont recall there even being any playground equipment, but at least we had a Park.





I myself spent much time at the City park....




Here's the interesting thing:  They took our Park away from us
when they werent supposed to be able to by Deed....




But somehow they got around it, took our Park and built low income housing called "City Park Village".




Even the Press complained about our city not having a Park.

"ONE OF THE LARGEST PARKLESS CITIES IN THE UNITED STATES"

In 1971, the Union Mission offered the city property for "Recreation". My guess is that it was mostly hills, but not according to that article. None the less,  I dont think anything ever came of it, and once again, Charleston has no real Park for its citizens.

Back