The city of Gardner’s playgrounds each have a rich, unique history
| Special for The Gardner News
It may not necessarily warrant a centennial celebration, but one of Gardner’s more popular and widely used playgrounds marks its 100th anniversary this month.
In January of 1921, there was a movement in the town to create a playground in the South Village to go along with similar venues in the uptown section of Gardner and the West End. Selectman Ralph N. Wiley first spoke in favor of a recreation center in the village.
Jackson Field off Cross Street was Gardner’s first playing field, developed in the uptown section of Gardner in 1909, yet the playground was not built there for another 20 years.
When the Gardner Chamber of Commerce first established the playground system for the town in 1910, it started with Greenwood Playground, off Jean Street in the West End.
It seemed only right that Gardner’s next most populous area, South Gardner, should be in line for a play area for the youth of that section of town.
On Jan. 5, 1921, at a well-attended meeting in Citizens Hall, a committee was appointed to survey prospective sites for a playground in the village.
Among those discussed were a tract of land behind Prospect Street School, as well as at Ellsworth Field – which was located near the present-day Kraft Street where the Knights of Columbus hall stood.
Other areas suggested were sites on Chelsea Street, Summer Street and Charles Street, the latter a former field used by Gardner High School to play its football games in the late 1890s.
Three weeks later, the committee approved a tract of land between Union Street and West Broadway known as “the Pierce tract” as the best location for the playground.
Owned by Stuart K. Pierce, it covered more than three acres and was said to be large enough for a good-sized ball field, which would require additional appropriations.
Future mayor of Gardner James Timpany presided at the meeting, while George L. Minott was elected secretary. Members of the citizen’s committee included Arnold A. Bent, James J. Noonan and Mrs. Arthur J. Stone.
When the time came for the playground to be named, it was done so in honor of Capt. William Bickford, a soldier in the Revolutionary War and early resident of South Gardner.
In 1922, Bickford became the first playground to have tennis courts erected, as well as horseshoe pits. The city championships for “Barnyard Golf” – as horseshoes were called back then – were held at Bickford.
Throughout the late 1930s, the sandlot team known as the Backwater Navy played its games there against the likes of the Uptown Panthers, Hillside Gymnasts, Jackson Eagles, Pearl Harbors and Fighting Frenchmen.
Bickford was also the locale for many Gardner Merchants semipro football games in the 1940s, while the Gardner High football team played games there in the mid-1930s when the high school was going through some renovations.
In later years, the Bickford Bears was the playground entry of the old Tom Flynn League.
Lights were installed there in 1969, and through the 1970s and 1980s, City League softball highlighted the summers at Bickford Playground, particularly when it came to playoff time.
There are some unique stories about the origin of other playgrounds within the city:
Jackson Field – The first field in Gardner erected solely for athletic purposes was Jackson Field, now the site of Jackson Playground, across from the former Simplex Time Recorder on Cross Street. Named in honor of Elisha Jackson, Gardner’s first settler, the field was first created in 1909 and became Gardner’s third playground on July 1, 1929.
Greenwood Playground – Opened in 1910 and built not too far from the Greenwood Hill area, off lower Parker and Jean streets, the playground is named for Aaron and Jonathan Greenwood, early settlers of Gardner.
The summer playground activities began there in 1911, and six years later they included a full slate of athletic events such as cricket, tetherball, horseshoe pitching, track meets and swimming lessons at Greenwood Memorial Pool. Tennis courts were built there in 1923.
Pulaski Playground – In 1928, plans were drafted to construct a playground in the Pleasant Street area of Gardner. When it first opened in 1931, it was known as simply the “New Playground,” and a year later it was called the Pleasant Street Playground.
Finally, in 1933, since it was located in the area of the city where a number of Polish immigrants settled, it was given the name Pulaski Playground, named for famed Polish soldier Casmir Pulaski.
The Edward L. Lepkowski Field, located at Pulaski Park, was dedicated in honor of the longtime public servant of the community on July 24, 1999.
Ovila Case Playground – A WPA project began on Nov. 9, 1935, to build Gardner’s fifth playground on land purchased from the Heywood Wakefield Co. off Stuart Street. The playground was completed in 1936.
First called the Heywood Playground, it was renamed Ovila Case Playground in memory of Gardner’s first World War I casualty, Pvt. Ovila Caisse.
The playground was home field to the Napoleon Club fast-pitch softball team, and in 1964 it became the first field in Gardner to feature night games under the lights.
In 1988, a citizens group formed to create the fantasy playground there, which was constructed over a five-day period during Columbus Day weekend that fall.
Stedman Playground – The final Gardner playground, the Marlene Stedman Playground, first opened off Cypress Street in 1956. It was named in honor of the daughter of City Councilor and former Mayor Clarke K. Stedman, who was 4 years old when her father donated the land to the city for a playground.
Appropriately, other streets in that area are also named for members of Stedman’s family, which lived on Blanchard Street in that area of the city. His wife, Bertha, and daughter Becky had avenues named in their honor, also in the vicinity of the playground.
Kenneth C. Holden Jr. Memorial Playground – Originally located at Gardner High School for some 20 years, it was rededicated at Waterford Street School in 2008.
Kenneth was a 5-year-old kindergarten student who died tragically when returning home from school one afternoon on March 6, 1986. After getting off the bus on Beech Street with two other students, near his home on Woodland Avenue, he was struck by the rear wheels of the bus after the driver lost sight of him.
On Oct. 19, 1986, the playground at Gardner High School, near the tennis courts, was dedicated in Kenny’s memory as kindergarten students were housed at the high school then.
When Gardner Middle School opened in 1997, kindergarten students were relocated to Waterford Street School. School officials decided to rededicate the playground there.
Comments and suggestions for The Gardner Scene can be sent to Mike Richard at [email protected] or in writing to Mike Richard, 92 Boardley Road, Sandwich, MA 02563.
