Meadow Valley Park

In 1970, the city of Washington was interested in building a sewage treatment facility at the foot of Ernest Street, but needed to purchase the property from Roy Roper to do so. To help entice him, they sought out an option on what was then known as the Schmoeger estate, a 90-acre property between Ernest Street and Legion Road. That property was then in the hands of the Schmoeger heirs, who were losing interest in retaining it. The city’s plan was to offer Roper part of that property in exchange for the property where they intended to build the treatment plant.

Roper ended up being extraordinarily cooperative, as he and the city ended up agreeing on a price for the treatment plant property without the need for a Schmoeger property exchange, so the city ended up with both. Once that was finalized, it was announced that the new property was to become a park, the first park property in the city that followed Washington’s western trend of movement at that time.

The newly formed Washington Park District was incredibly busy at the time, having just purchased the Heyl property behind Lincoln School and in discussions to purchase the Neptune Swim Club, so the development of this new park would be years in duration.

One potential use for the park that never came to fruition was as a mini-bike and go-kart track. Bob Linsley, then a high school student, submitted a proposal to the park board in 1973 for the construction of such a track on the park property. After doing research the park board pointed to significant supervisory responsibilities as well as exorbitant insurance costs as reasons for not going forth with the concept.

It was in 1975 when development of the park finally started to get legs. A naming contest was held, and out of 263 entries the contest was won by St. Patrick’s student Jean Mahony with the suggested name of Meadow Valley Park. Mahony’s prize was a swimming pass for the 1975 season.

Initial plans for the park called for a much more structured park than what we see today. Ball diamonds, education centers, and more dedicated planting areas were in the early sketches. However, failed grants and cost-cutting by the state in the mid to late-1970s kept most of these plans on the drawing board.

In 1978 the first shelters were built at the park. Off of Ernest Street the Washington Park District funded a shelter and the Kiwanis Club funded another, and the Legion Road entrance to the park was adorned with a shelter funded by the Washington Jaycees. All shelters were built by Wesley Wenger.

The park sat unchanged as a beautiful escape for the next thirty years. In 2009 the waters started churning as the park district, behind the impetus of resident Bobbi Volk, started a fund-raising campaign for the construction of a dog park at the site. Originally, the dog park was to be located on the Legion Road side of the park. Residents who lived on Legion Road came out in full force against the construction of a park using their road as the entry, calling it an unsafe road for the increased traffic.

Fund-raising for the dog park was a slow process, and took years to come to any significant total. By 2016, the total raised had swollen to $46,000 and allowed to park district to build a smaller dog park than the one originally envisioned, this one accessed off of Ernest Street. The cost to build the park was $60,000.

In 2017 Washington resident Sarah Hostetler brought the idea of a pollinator garden to the park district and the district obliged by constructing a 3-acre prairie along Legion Road at the entrance to the park. Many groups were and continue to be instrumental in the development and maintenance of the prairie, including Illinois River Valley Pheasants Forever, ICC SAFE chapter, the Central Illinois Monarch Task Force, and the Boy Scouts.