Cherry Street Park being renamed

Cherry Street Park will be getting an upgrade and a new name, “Thaddeus Hurd Park.”

The name change was made official at the July 21 meeting of the Clyde City Council when a resolution was passed renaming it. New signs will be made for the park, and ideas are in the works for improvements to reclaim it as a neighborhood park.

Mayor Scott Black said it might take a while for older residents to adapt to the name change, but it will eventually catch on.

The renaming came about when a group of residents attended previous council meetings requesting to name parks after famous citizens, specifically Thaddeus Hurd and Sherwood Anderson. Concerns were expressed that future generations won’t know who these men were or what they had accomplished for Clyde. The council agreed.

“Hurd was an excellent choice,” Black said.

Hurd was a Clyde historian who shared his extensive historical collections, aided the Clyde Museum, and worked with local, county and state historical societies. His father was boyhood friends in Clyde with Sherwood Anderson, who moved to Clyde as a child in 1885 and left in 1896 at age 19.

Anderson is 24th on the list of the world’s “100 Most Influential Writers of the 20th Century.”

Some Clyde parks are named for the streets on which they were located, Limerick Park and Cherry Street Park.

“Cherry Street Park was the oldest and most rundown park,” Black said. “ It is a nice downtown park and needed an overhaul. It was an easy fix.”

The council also had extensively discussed ideas at a work session for upgrading city parks.

Black said the city fully backs ideas from the community for improvements to the parks and is challenging people to come up with ideas.

“The city has luck with getting both state and federal grants to improve our parks,” he said, indicating that city funds might not be needed for the improvements.

Jackson Jelenic, son of Jean Jackson and distant relative of Hurd, is seeking to use Hurd Park for an Eagle Scout project. The Clyde Lions Club has submitted a grant for handicapped-accessible improvements and sensory space at the Forest Street entrance to the park.

This group of interested residents also has formed the Sherwood Anderson Society, which the council has recognized. One of its purposes is to support the re-establishment of Sherwood Anderson Park downtown in the railroad plaza area. Plans are going forward on that project also. The society was formed by John Brewer at the council’s request.

There also leaves Limerick Park yet to be named after someone.

“Who knows who will become famous in the future and have the park named after them,” Black said.

The other parks in city are Gus Wolf, Hendricks and Paden; the largest park in the city is Community Park.

Jeanette Liebold-Ricker’s column appears each Tuesday. Write her at 1134 N. Main, Clyde OH 43410; call 419-547-8177; or email jlricker@ambt.net.