Before 1970, the land we know as the Roubidoux Park was farmland. It regularly flooded, but this beautiful area also served as a crossing for people and animals. It was the site of the first bridge to cross the Roubidoux and the original alignment of Route 66 came down North St. to that bridge. You can still see the abutments of the old bridge in the area of the RV Park. In 1923 a new concrete, spandrel bridge replaced the old structure and Route 66 was re-aligned.
Luge Hardman, Former Mayor of Waynesville and Member of the Roubidoux Writers Society
It wasn’t until a few local people with a vision began the process of acquiring the land for a future park for the City of Waynesville that the landscape of that area took on a new welcoming look.
A lengthy interview with Don Clark in May gave me an overview of the history of the acquisition of the Roubidoux Park. In 1970 Don was serving on the Waynesville City Council. John McMillan was the mayor at the time. Later, his brother Buford Clark served on the City Council in the 1980s. They were a serving family.
The present park was empty farmland, but its location was what attracted Don and other citizens to its potential. They knew the city didn’t have the money to purchase park property. At that time the city owned the airport property on top of Waynesville Hill. The airport was situated where East Elementary is today and the Waynesville School District offered to buy that property for an elementary complex. That would be money they could use for the park purchase.
The city tried to locate the owners of the property by the creek. By that time, Champ Collier was the mayor and he agreed with Don. Don now had a new, important partner in his vision for a city park. With the help of local realtor, Joe Miller, they located the owners of the property, the Tice family in St. Louis.
The airport money and another donor fund sponsored by Mitchell Optical was used to buy the land near the Roubidoux Creek for $8,400.
Next on the plan was appointing a permanent park board. Mayor Collier chose Don as the chairman and named local citizens Eula Burchard, Don Coates, Ansel Routh, and Dale Weber as the group planning the layout of the park along the creek.
There had been a tax levy of 15 cents on the airport and Don asked for that to be kept and used for maintenance of a park. He felt they would need $100,000 for the project which included a community pool. He spoke to any and every group that would listen to him. The levy passed overwhelmingly at the polls. The city hired an architect and put together a plan for a community park.
I enjoyed listening to the stories of the excavation work that was done during the next year. Wyatt Excavation completed the initial work. At one point, they discovered the remnants of brick works on the site. County clerk George Lane, a local historian, was convinced those bricks were used to build the Old Courthouse in 1903.
The land was dedicated by the new park board on May 31, 1971 and a year later, in June 1972, it was officially named the Roubidoux Park and opened for the citizens of Waynesville. Mayor C.W. Parker was in office at the time.
That same year the community pool was built and operated each summer. It offered fun and jobs for the youth in Waynesville and the community for 20 years. By the 1990s wear and tear was becoming obvious and, at times, the pool had to be closed because of crumbling concrete. The park board asked the people to pass a small sales tax for maintenance of the pool, but it failed miserably. That decision led to its demolition in the 1990s.
Laughlin Park, the lower park, was acquired a few years later in 1974. The city attorney Bill Morgan was instrumental in the donation of the land by the Laughlin family.
The Roubidoux Park turns 50 this year (2022).
Luge Hardman
That same year Roubidoux Spring was acquired by the city. The original owner of the spring was Jacob Lintzenich. His daughter, Evelyn Schindler, donated the “Big Spring” to the city on December 12, 1974.
Our park system has become better each year and with each park board. Our compliments and thanks for their volunteer service, their vision and their leadership. We recognize the Waynesville Park Board chairmen today. Amazingly only eight citizens have served in this position. It seemed to be a happy place to serve.
• Don Clark
• Adele Nickels
• Luge Hardman
• Roger Olney
• Jesse de Graftenreed
• Sean Wilson
• Lawrence Beamer
• Jeff Militti
This year the city celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Roubidoux Park. How blessed has our community been to enjoy this wonderful natural resource on the banks of the Roubidoux Creek? Many prominent Waynesville citizens began this process and saw it dedicated as a park in December of 1971. Don Clark and Eula Burchard were instrumental in acquiring the land. They were supported by a “who’s who” of Waynesville families, many of whom are represented here today. . . Miller, Dodds, Farnham, Laughlin, Kaplan, Morgan, Nickels, Shultz, Hensley, Lynch, Weber, Pritchard and many civic groups.
I chose Waynesville as my home in 1971 when I came to teach history at Wood Junior High and eventually, Waynesville High School. I had three lives here in Waynesville. My teaching career, as I taught 30 years in the Waynesville schools. I enjoyed every day. Teaching was a daily adventure and the blessing was being able to touch so many lives.
Secondly, my interest in local government and a desire to see my chosen home improve and grow.
And thirdly, now an interest in writing. In fact, I have told many of the stories we will share today in my book, “Small-Town Mayor.”
My interest in local government and the city began in the 1980s when I was appointed as a member and eventually chaired the planning and zoning commission.
In the 1990s my interest switched to our park board and I was appointed by mayor Bill Ransdall and eventually served as chairman.
While leading the park board, we successfully passed the half cent capital improvement tax in 2002, which has been used wisely to enhance our park and has added many wonderful features over the years. The people of Waynesville responded and the tax passed overwhelmingly.
We went on to use those monies to build the Roubidoux Walking Trail in 2003 and to add the Spray Park in 2009. As I was ending my chairmanship and joining the city council in 2003, our park board was awarded national recognition and named Small City Park Board of the Year by the National Parks and Recreation Association for our work on the capital improvement tax and the building of the new Roubidoux Walking Trail. Our new park board chairman Roger Olney and I accepted that honor at the national conference in St. Louis.
As councilwoman, I worked with Roger Olney and Jessie De Graftenreed as park board chairmen. We succeeded in being certified as a site on the National Historic Trail by the National Park Service in 2005. We built the Spray Park and added pavilions.
As mayor I worked with Jessie, Sean Wilson and Lawrence Beamer. In 2015, we built the park stage with a donation from the Dial family, not costing the taxpayer a penny. Our thanks to the Dial family for their thoughtfulness and love for the Roubidoux Park.
We built the accessible Little Heroes playground in 2017, offering play to all children. It was a wonderful community effort.
We began a program of neighborhood parks, adding play features and benches each year.
We applied for grants to enhance our walking trail, extending it to downtown and adding hard surfacing.
Today the park board is involved in adding a fitness park and a food court, the Roubidoux StrEATery. They continue enhancing the walking trail and are replacing over 60 trees that were destroyed by an Asian beetle.
Without a doubt the biggest contributor to our parks are our countless volunteers over the years; from the leaders of our festivals and special events; to the Stream Team who worked to keep the Roubidoux clean; to our “Adopt the Park” program; and to the members of the City of Waynesville Park Board over the years and the thoughtful contributions you made to making our park system the best.
And we would never forget the park superintendents over the years who carried out the plans and added their own touches to what we see today. They all became my dear friends, Randy Nichols, Rick Sallee, Randy Brown, and Trey Haragan.
Parks are the major focus of “quality of life” issues for all cities. Recreation, exercise, playgrounds, and natural resources are vital parts to any city. I am proud to see that tradition continuing and growing with the current administration.
I was proud to be a part of the growth of the Roubidoux Park over the years. In fact, I arrived the year the park was first being envisioned. I am proud to know many of the early contributors to this wonderful asset of our town. This year, I join the celebration of that growth and I extend a very happy anniversary wish to the Roubidoux Park. And as our local folk legend goes, “Dip your toe in the Roubidoux and you will always come home!”
