Brainerd Rotary acquired 38 acres of land and 1,400 feet of Mississippi River frontage, and on January 3, 2012 the club donated the property to the City of Brainerd for use as a park. Rotarians John Forrest; Rick zumBrunnen, Club President; and Theresa Goble, past Club President, presented the city with the deed to the land located below Pump House Hill, just south of Kiwanis Park in south Brainerd. “We’re deeding this land to the city hopefully for public use for ever and ever and ever,” Forrest said.
A natural scenic area grant was received from the state and a grant came from the Brainerd Lakes General Fund with the Central Minnesota Community Foundation. Mark Ostgarden, city planner, was instrumental in achieving the grant from the state.
Comments from Brainerd Mayor James Wallin “The Mississippi river divides the city and it also combines the city — I can’t say enough for the work of the Rotary club and the others involved in this. I’m so proud to be the mayor to accept it.”
We envision it not being a highly developed park. We are working with Riverside Revitalization groups, governmental agencies, including the DNR and Nature Conversancy, in order to obtain grants and realize the “best fit” trail corridor to connect to existing trail systems in the vicinity.
