{"id":66462,"date":"2015-08-01T08:04:59","date_gmt":"2015-08-01T13:04:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=66462"},"modified":"2015-08-03T07:55:07","modified_gmt":"2015-08-03T12:55:07","slug":"large-crowd-on-hand-as-ground-broken-on-park-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2015\/08\/01\/large-crowd-on-hand-as-ground-broken-on-park-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Ground broken on Franklin Park project"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/b>independent editor<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Van<\/a>
Van Wert County Foundation Executive Secretary Seth Baker unveils the new Franklin Park design<\/strong>. (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The former Franklin Elementary School site began its transformation into a multi-use public park on Friday with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by stakeholders in the project, as\u00a0well as some of the children and area residents who will likely enjoy the benefits of the new facility.<\/p>\n

Former Franklin School student Jordan Hurless officially lifted the first shovelful of dirt to mark the beginning of the multi-stage project.<\/p>\n

The new park, the fruition of nearly two years of design and funding discussions, is the brainchild of Van Wert native and philanthropist Scott Niswonger, who attended Friday\u2019s groundbreaking ceremony with his wife, the former Nikki Elliott, also a Van Wert native.<\/p>\n

Niswonger spoke briefly, and with emotion, noting his love for the community he grew up in and his wish to do something on the site of the elementary school he attended as a child.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came up with the idea, and I gave the seed money to get it started,\u201d Niswonger noted. \u201cI think some of the fondest memories I have are growing up in (Van Wert).\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really hard, because I can see my house right there (on Harrison Street), where I grew up,\u201d Niswonger said, after a pause to regain his composure. \u201cVan Wert, the time we grew up, was the very best time, I think, in this country to have grown up, and I hope that we\u2019re able, through this park, to bring back some of those feelings of community and neighborhood…\u201d<\/p>\n

Nikki Niswonger also spoke of her fondness for the community where she and her husband were raised.<\/p>\n

\"Student<\/a>
Jordan Hurless breaks ground on the new Franklin Park project.<\/strong> (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really proud of our community,\u201d she said of Van Wert. \u201cWe love bringing people here \u2026 we love coming here \u2026 this is the best of the best.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Philanthropist<\/a>
Philanthropist and Van wert native Scott Niswonger speaks at the Franklin Park groundbreaking.<\/strong> (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Scott Niswonger had proposed the idea of a turning the former school site into a family park back in August 2013, and donated the use of his architect, John Fisher, and landscape architect Jim Douglas to design the park, as well as up to $500,000 to fund construction of the new park.<\/p>\n

\u201cVan Wert provided a wonderful time and place to grow up,\u201d Niswonger said at the time, noting then his fondest for the community in which he spent his childhood. \u201cI am happy to help with something special, and wanted to see something appropriate done with that space — especially for young people.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it has on many other occasions, The Van Wert County Foundation announced it would provide the remainder of the funding for the project — and Niswonger commended the foundation for its investment in the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t realize how fortunate you are to have the Van Wert County Foundation stepping up on some of these projects,\u201d Niswonger told the crowd. \u201cThis really wouldn\u2019t be possible without them, and I\u2019d like to thank them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Van Wert City Schools and the City of Van Wert were also thanked for their contributions to the new park.<\/p>\n

Beth Runnion, the last principal of Franklin School, talked about how the school site was \u201ca special place, especially for kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Runnion also noted that the park would be a memorial to the school and its impact on the community. \u201cLet this be a reminder of the importance of our schools, because the memories that I talk about here did not stop when we left this building,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"Beth<\/a>
Beth Runnion, last Franklin Elementary School principal, speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for Franklin Park.<\/strong> (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Nikki<\/a>
Nikki Niswonger speaks at the Franklin Park groundbreaking ceremony.<\/strong> (Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The new park, which will be built in phases over the next two years, will include a shelterhouse, a basketball court that can be turned into an ice-skating rink or roller-blading area, a pickleball court that can also function as a volleyball court, a skating park, a children\u2019s playground area and lots of green space (click here<\/strong><\/a> for a detailed copy of the design).<\/p>\n

Niswonger also noted his wish that the park include a new community swimming pool, and pledged to donate $250,000 to such a project.<\/p>\n

Van Wert Mayor Don Farmer talked about \u201cthe great family center\u201d that would be created on the former school site and commended those who have given to the community over the years, people like the Brumbacks, who provided funding for a county library, the Wassenbergs, who helped create a city art center, and George Marsh, who helped establish both a hospital and the city\u2019s YWCA, as well as the Marsh Foundation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis community has been very fortunate to have people, in years past, who saw fit to set funding aside with the Van Wert County Foundation to establish assets for our community,\u201d the mayor said, and also gave credit to Niswonger, who now lives in Greenville, Tennessee, for providing the seed money to construct the Niswonger Performing Arts Center of Northwest Ohio.<\/p>\n

Mike Gearhart, president of the Van Wert County Foundation Board of Trustees, talked about the many donors who have provided funding to the foundation for community projects — and how appropriate it was for the foundation to provide money for the park project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen financial assistance was required to make Franklin Park a reality, the trustees of the foundation felt this project was exactly what many of these donors had in mind when endowing their money to the foundation,\u201d Gearhart said. \u201cWe feel fortunate to lend financial assistance to a project of this size and scope.\u201d<\/p>\n

The mayor and Gearhart also mentioned that they feel the Franklin Park project fits neatly into Scott Niswonger\u2019s motto of \u201cLearn, Earn and Return\u201d.<\/p>\n

Plans are to bid out the project in August and September and, hopefully, begin work on the park yet this fall, said Foundation Executive Secretary Seth Baker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor The former Franklin Elementary School site began its transformation into a multi-use public park on Friday with a groundbreaking ceremony attended by stakeholders in the project, as\u00a0well as some of the children and area residents who will likely enjoy the benefits of the new facility. Former Franklin School student Jordan Hurless officially […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-02 18:03:45","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66462\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}