Story by Mederios Babb, MTN News
BUTTE, Mont. – Construction in Stodden Park will continue into the fall as the city builds ‘Central Park’ for the historic city.
The park has been filled with equipment all summer long as Ridge Waters and the Butte Carousel wrapped up construction.
The reconstruction of the park is all thanks to the generous donation of $5.5 million from the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation and Montana Resources.
Parks & Recreation Director J.P. Gallagher said although projects are being completed, there is still a lot to do.
“Now we are really going to see an uptick in the construction,” said Gallagher. “A lot of the things people didn’t see was the construction that was going on was mostly going on underground and now you are starting to see everything go vertical.”
Gallagher says one of the projects turning vertical is the brand new destination kids park. The playground will take on the essence of the city’s rich history through gallows frames slides, a haul truck and of course, a Big Butte climbing wall.
“To see the scope of it, it really will be a place that kids will want to come over and over again,” said Gallagher.
Gallagher refers to the revamped Stodden as Butte’s own ‘Central Park’. Along with the pool, carousel, and the playground there will also be an ice skating ribbon, cross-country skiing trails, tennis and basketball courts. With all of these additions, a second road leading into the park will be added off of Rowe Road.
“That will add more parking in here. It will also add accessibility and emergency access. That was huge in the project, one of those things people don’t realize how important those things are but it really is an important factor in the park,” he said.
Gallagher said now that the pool is closed for the season, the construction will head into full swing to stay on track toward the goal of finishing all of the projects by the end of November.
