Bradshaw Park

Why "Bradshaw" Park?

While planning and installing this new pocket park, we sought to find a name for it that would call back to the history of this spot. The triangle of land on which the FS community garden and Bradshaw Park now sit was an awkward triangle of land left over after the construction of Interstate 65 cut through the area and cut off Fountain Square from downtown.

Remnants of that history were built into the design of the community garden by landscape architects Dawn Koch and Eric Fulford. The rock garden is a representation of Wyoming Street (previously Bismarck) that once went West through to Wright Street in Fletcher Place. You can see the names Wyoming and Bismarck on the concrete sides of the rock bed. What is now the end of Leonard Street at Virginia used to be where Bradshaw Street angled Northeast before ending at Virginia.

At the front of the garden are three plinths marked 871, 873, and 875 to mark the street numbers of three commercial buildings that once occupied the space. At various times starting in the mid-late 1800s these buildings hosted a grocery, confectionary, drug store, appliance repair shop, dry cleaner, saloon, and automobile related businesses.

The entire space is meant to invoke reflection on how construction of the interstate brought destruction to many homes and businesses and changed the trajectory of the neighborhood. We want Bradshaw Park to be a place for everyone and hope you use it as a place to rest, enjoy yourself, and look forward to a bright future for our neighborhood.