Broadway Park: Renewing Ann Arbor's Public Riverfront

Broadway Park in Ann Arbor, Michigan is a small grassy meadow that was once the heart of Ann Arbor's manufacturing district. At this location, the convergence of three forms of transportation encouraged the growth of settlements, commerce, and industry. Initially, the Huron River and wooded trails were the pathways of Native Americans and the early nineteenth century settlers. When the railroad arrived in 1839, the site became a midway point for East-West American expansion, a place of arrival for immigrants and freed and escaped slaves, and a nexus of commerce via the country's rail system. River industry gave the area its purpose and its character, hints of which remain, though the industry is gone. Today, the roads, rails, and river are still the components that define the space, and therefore present significant opportunities and constraints in envisioning a new Broadway Park.

Though beautiful in its pastoral serenity, Broadway Park offers no clues to the richness of nearly two centuries worth of history and growth. Instead, its underdevelopment speaks to the phenomenon that occurred in the past fifty or so years, in which a once thriving neighborhood lost its manufacturing, much of its commerce and most of its townspeople. Early in the twentieth century, the deserted piece of land earned the nickname "Hobo" Park because of its users: out-of-work men who rode the rails and slept in the park. The city of Ann Arbor tried to make Broadway Park an attractive public space, but it fell behind other park projects. Now it is an isolated swath of grass, used mainly by fisherman, people taking a shortcut route through the park, and people without homes who sleep and store their belongings there.

Yet, at this time, there is renewed possibility for Broadway Park. The reconstruction of Broadway Bridge is creating awareness of the space beneath it, and the proposed Broadway Village development in Lower Town presents potential opportunities for revitalizing the park in conjunction with the neighborhood. A third impetus for revival is the Huron River Greenway across the river. Broadway Park could be connected and used as a Gateway to the Greenway: a jumping off point for the trails. The adjacent historic buildings could be Greenway Gatehouses that offer refreshments, restrooms, boat and bicycle rentals, and historical information about the Greenway. Broadway Park, reached by an attractive pedestrian bridge might offer a quieter contemplative space for picnics, fishing, reading, and learning about Lower Town's history and the Huron River ecology.

With respect for its historical evolution, the Broadway Park Design Project is not an attempt to return the park to a pristine state, but rather an opportunity to remember and examine all the changes that have taken place along the riverfront.

What Happened Here? The History of Broadway Park