Niswonger, architects visit park site

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Van Wert native and philanthropist Scott Niswonger recently made a pledge to assist in turning the former Franklin Elementary School site into a family-friendly park area. On Monday, he was in town with architects John Fisher and Jim Douglas in tow to work on making that pledge a reality.

Niswonger flew into Van Wert to meet with Mayor Don Farmer, Safety-Service Director Jay Fleming, City Parks Director Sue Heppeard and Van Wert City Schools Superintendent Ken Amstutz to gather information that can be used to develop a plan for creating a park on the site.

Niswonger and his design team also visited the former school property so that Fisher, the architect who helped design the Niswonger Performing Arts Center in Van Wert, as well as Niswonger-funded projects on the Purdue University campus, and Douglas, a landscape architect who has worked on a number of Niswonger projects and other projects, could view the site.

Although some of the architects’ preliminary ideas are already incorporated in other city parks, they did begin to get some good ideas of what could be possible for the proposed Franklin Park project.

Without Niswonger’s pledge of design and financial assistance on the project, the school site would have likely remained a vacant lot, since city officials felt they didn’t have the money to accept the site from the Van Wert City School District.

Niswonger, who lived close to Franklin School while growing up, and still has fond memories of his time playing on the school grounds and baseball field, then stepped into the picture with a promise to help make the site into a park that children, older young people and adults can all enjoy.

Fisher and Douglas will now head back to Tennessee to begin working on a plan that could incorporate a number of different areas, including a large green space that could be used for pick-up football or soccer games, as well as a picnic area with a shelterhouse, and possibly a gazebo, and areas where people could walk and benches for people to sit and watch park activities.

Any plan would have to be approved by city officials and the Van Wert City Board of Education, which still holds title to the land.

In addition to the design costs, Niswonger has also promised to pay at least half of the costs of developing the park, with any remaining costs generated from private donations.

It’s not the only project the former Van Wert resident and his wife are involved in here. Niswonger also recently pledged $70,000 as seed money for a fund that would pay any operating losses from the city’s proposed aquatics center. That project, which would cost approximately $3 million, is to be voted on by city taxpayers in November. A group of local business people has also pledged approximately $1.2 million to maintain the center, if approved by voters.

Niswonger, who donated $3 million to help construct the NPAC, also toured the new Wassenberg Art Center location, and also made a pledge to assist with that project while talking to Wassenberg Director Hope Wallace.

Mayor Farmer said he was very appreciative of all the generous contributions that have helped make the city a great place to live.

“I especially want to thank Scott Niswonger for his help, but I also have to say that there are many people in our community who have contributed either money, investment or volunteered for all of our park system and other things we have in our community,” the mayor said. “Without people like them and like Scott, our community would not be what it is today.”