A ‘REAL ENOUGH’ PARK
Future of tiny CMU campus park in doubt after 56 years of local quirky history
For 56 years, in a tiny corner of campus adjacent to Warriner Hall, a tree and a picnic table have paid quirky tribute to a World War II veteran and former director of purchasing at Central Michigan University.
Sandwiched between Warriner and the Bovee University Center, legend has it that “Henry E. Mitchell State Park” was named by his funloving coworkers in honor of Mitchell, who often ate his lunch there in the 1960s.
But, as with many legends, the claim that the tiny spot was the state’s smallest state park is not actually true, as documented in many CM Life articles over the decades.
Still, the rest of the legend is accurate.
As recently as three years ago, before she retired, Mt. Pleasant resident Deb Andrews spent many a break at Mitchell Park, relaxing between her duties in the financial aid office.
So it was with sadness that Deb and her husband Dave — on a social distancing trip around town the other day — noticed that Mitchell Park is now gone, covered with construction equipment and blocked by security fencing.
That sent daughter Amy Rider researching the park.
“She was devastated when she and my dad were doing a corona drive-by of the places she loved in town and saw that, and asked me to look into it,” Rider said. “She thought it was a real state park and that they would need permits to raze it.”
That certainty over the years made the unofficial Mitchell State Park such an enduring tale.
It was a joke, a sign hastily erected by his coworkers for Mitchell, a U.S. Army colonel who happened to be the first American to capture a German Tiger tank in World War II.
With a plaque attached to an Oak tree declaring “Henry’s Park,” the spot — a tree and a picnic table — was ded
icated in 1964.
“Looking at old papers I see that it wasn’t indeed real, but it was real enough to her,” Rider said.
Officially, a CMU spokesperson confirmed the park is currently part of one of the many construction projects underway on campus, probably a staging area for masonry work at Warriner.
It is not certain if it will be restored.
“As you can see from the articles, this has never been an official park, nor has it been used for anything like this for a very long time,” said Heather Smith, executive director of communications.
Although unofficial, the park was the subject of numerous stories and remembrances covered over the years in CM Life, the university’s student newspaper.
Among the tidbits:
• The chained-off park area once contained three trees, a picnic table and a weathered park bench.
• Former CMU superintendent of grounds George Stranzberry, who retired in 1984, told the newspaper that Mitchell - who died in 1984 apparently enjoyed eating his lunch there and it was dedicated as a prank to him.
• At the 1964 dedication, a cannon was fired in a ceremony that included CMU students, Army officers and university administrators.
• A “Save Mitchell State Park” petition circulated in 1978 when the site faced plans to be paved over for other uses.
• Among the reasons to preserve the park, the petition claimed, was it’s “picturesque beauty” and existence as the state’s smallest state park.
• Additionally, the petition boasted preservation would “prove to the entire state of Michigan, the United States of America, The World and to The Moon (if anyone there is interested) that once in our short history an educator received a one (1 only) gun salute mutually agreed upon by students, faculty and administration.”