Laudan Park
Laudan Fields, known today as Laudan Park, is the second oldest park in Neenah, Wisconsin. In 1856, the Village of Neenah gained possession of a tract of land on the very southern border of the area: Laudan Fields. How it is that the Village gained possession of the field is somewhat of a mystery. Some rumors exist that the field was a gift to the village from an outside party, but the legal records of the land transfer are recorded as being “obscure”. It was the following year, 1857, that Laudan Fields appeared for the first time on the Neenah Map between the areas known as “North Park Street” and “South Park Street”. During the 1890’s parts of the field were renamed “Bigelow Park”, where up through to the 1890’s hay was grown for the city.
In 1909, the Neenah Map showed a clear dedication to the outline of the park as being the two block area to the east and west of Oak Street. In 1929, the east-west street between Higgins Avenue and Elm Street was named “Laudan Boulevard” despite the fact that the street is not a boulevard at all. In 1932, the Neenah Park Board was instructed by the city to drain, level and seed Laudan Fields to make it more presentable for the city. This reconstruction was part of the City’s “Make-Work” program, which lasted from 1931-1932. The entire reconstruction program is estimated to have cost approximately $1500 dollars at the time, which would equate to about $24,805 today. A short time after WWII, in 1948, the city made the decision to sell a piece of Laudan Park in order to have a space to expand Wilson Elementary School. Shortly after, the exact date is unknown, Arthur Bohnen, an architect from Chicago, sold three lots of Laudan, to the West of Oak Street, back to the city marking the present day Laudan area. A shelter was added in 1965. |