11 LIBERTY PARK: SALT LAKE CITY''S "CENTRAL PARK" Boundaries: 900 South, 1300 South, 500 East, and 700 East Distance: 1.5 miles Difficulty: Easy Parking: Free inside the park, curbside, and in parking lots Public Transit: Utah Transit Authority bus route #9 goes along the north side of Liberty Park, on 900 South. Route 205 travels along 500 East, the park''s west side With the passing of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in 1903, The New York Times praised him and the late Calvert Vaux, with whom Olmsted had designed Manhattan''s Central Park, for their vision. "It is to them," the Times said, "that we owe the beautiful breathing space" that had become and remains so vital to life in the crowded city. New York City''s 843-acre Central Park, which opened to the public in 1859, is credited as the first such urban refuge this side of the Atlantic. It initiated Olmsted''s renowned career as a designer of metropolitan landscapes--and became the inspiration for parks throughout the nation. "Breathing space" is exactly what is offered by Liberty Park, Salt Lake City''s little-big homage to Central Park. Opened as a late 19th-century recreational haven in the Olmsted-Vaux tradition, this is a 100-acre refuge of planned forest, grassland, and ponds southeast of the midtown high-rises.
It is surrounded by central-city neighborhoods. A variety of recreational activities are available in the park, from soft jogging trails to hard-surfaced paths for biking, skating, and walking, principally along the park''s almost 1.5-mile loop. It includes Tracy Aviary, said to be the nation''s largest stand-alone aviary, as well as picnic sites, children''s playgrounds, tennis courts, and basketball courts. Operating seasonally are a pool and water park, a carousel, and concession stands. Of course, Liberty Park wasn''t always Liberty Park. An 1847 settler, Isaac Chase, was assigned the first five-acre allotment and, with pioneer leader Brigham Young as his partner, operated a flour mill on the site. In 1860, according to a historical marker, Young gave Chase land in Centerville, Utah, in exchange for the house and his interest in the property.
The mill and farmland were variously known as Mill Farm, Forest Park, and the Locust Patch. It wasn''t until 1881 that Salt Lake City purchased the area from the Young estate to create Liberty Park. The first playgrounds were installed by 1912, and with the automobile age it became a destination for Sunday drives, notes the pictorial history, Salt Lake City Then and Now. It remained the community''s largest park until Sugar House Park opened in the early 1950s. What is now Hogle Zoo spent 19 years in Liberty Park, from 1911 to 1932, until its animals were moved to new quarters at the mouth of Emigration Canyon. Liberty is "a spacious city park," notes VisitSaltLake.com, "with plenty of room for recreation or relaxation," and hosts many community events, from art shows at the Chase Home to come-one, come-all weekly drum circles. Indeed, on July 24 each year the park remains the apex of area Pioneer Day celebrations, the finish line for a marathon and other long-distance races, the site of nighttime fireworks, and brimming with pleasure-seekers.
Note: Vehicles can enter Liberty Park, but access has changed over the years. Today one can park curbside or in small interior lots. However, the north-south artery through the park, 600 East, is now a pedestrian walkway. Also, for traffic control, drivers can no longer cruise the park''s oval road in a full, slow loop. Gates at 600 East present a choice for access and parking: east side or west side. For Liberty Park''s east side, vehicular entry is via 600 East and 1300 South; you will immediately turn right onto a one-way, counterclockwise half-loop. Ditto for the west-side half-loop, with entry via 600 East and 900 South. For the purposes of this walk, we suggest the latter.
Also, dogs are allowed but must be leashed, and you must clean up after them. Alcoholic beverages are not allowed. Begin your walk at 900 South and 600 East, Liberty Park''s formal entry. Plaques on tall, flower bowl-topped columns summarize the site''s history. Take the sidewalk, just inside the concrete road, for a counterclockwise loop around the park. Across the way, outside of the park, Romney Plaza, a terraced senior citizen living center, is on the northwest corner of 500 East and 900 South. Beans & Brews Coffee House is on the intersection''s southwest corner. Houses almost a century-old punctuate 500 East, opposite the park, as does St.
John''s Lutheran Church. Looping south, note a side road into the park''s center. This offers access to and parking for picnic spots, the Chase Home Museum of Utah Folk Art, and play areas for children (Rotary Play Park''s slides, swings, and games) and adults (horseshoes, bocce, and basketball). Just to the south, along the road are the Liberty Park Tennis Center and the park''s swimming pool. Tracy Aviary, which underwent significant expansion and renovation from 2005 to 2011, occupies Liberty Park''s southwest acreage and is worth a diversion. There is also a parking lot to its north. This was the site of the park''s early zoo. Tracy Aviary tookover the zoo''s old quarters in 1938, after local banker Russell Lord Tracy and his wife donated their private bird collection to the city and its children.
Today the aviary has about 400 birds, many of them colorful or exotic. They represent 135 species, some rare or endangered, the aviary says. Exhibit areas and pavilions spotlight bald and golden eagles, native Utah birds, South American species, and, most recently, an owl forest. The aviary is open daily, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults, $6 for children 13 and older and seniors 65 and older, and $5 for children ages 3-12.
Children age 2 and under are admitted free. Wheelchairs and wagons are available for rental. Outside the aviary, follow the looping walkway south as it curves eastward, to your left. Opposite the park, across 1300 South, should you be in need of refreshment or a meal, are a 7-Eleven convenience store, a popular parkside eatery logically named the Park Café, and other businesses and homes. Some of the aviary''s birds are also visible from the public pathway. A little farther away, on the corner of 1300 South and 700 East, is the Adventure Church, a Pentecostal ministry. Continue past the wide, two-lane sidewalk at midblock--for now. Until the 1970s this was a road, 600 East, which bisected the park along its north-south axis.
Stroll east to the Liberty Park Pond, a haven for geese and ducks and for people who liketo toss them a crumb. In 2010 a pipeline ruptured upstream, on Red Butte Creek-- coincidentally, during the huge BP oil spill along the Gulf Coast of the United States. Crude oil contaminated the pond''s water and threatened wildlife. Almost 200 birds were taken to Hogle Zoo to be cleaned and saved. Work draining, dredging, and refurbishing the pond continued into 2011. As the path loops northward, note the islands in the pond; one has bridge access and a covered terrace. The park''s eastern fringe is usually quite noisy, as 700 East is a major traffic corridor. Halfway down the park''s east side is another sidewalk.
Nearby are picnic areas, some with vintage stone pillars, others made of concrete with embedded chess and checker boards. Liberty Park''s largest pavilion, Rice Terrace, can seat 200 people. Toward the park''s northeast corner are a volleyball court and another small children''s playground. However, this side path also offers a fine place to divert west, into the park''s interior and the central promenade. Very tall trees line the old 600 East corridor. It is a pleasant walkway in any season, but especially at autumn''s peak, when the leaves turn a lovely gold. In the middle of the park are several attractions and points of interest. There is a small, seasonally operated Ferris wheel.
In the Seven Canyons Fountain, curves and dips represent canyon-born streams that feed into the Salt Lake Valley''s Jordan River. In summer, children can wade in the pool, under adult supervision. Just to the west is the park''s residential centerpiece, the pioneer-era Isaac Chase home, built from 1853 to 1854. The adobe and stucco residence is one of the city''s few remaining houses that date from the 1850s, says one of several historical markers outside. The two-story porch was added sometime in the early 20th century. After 1860, when Brigham Young traded property with Chase, members of the LDS Church leader''s family lived in the house. It was later occupied by park employees, by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, and more recently by the Utah Arts Council. It is currently the Museum of Utah Folk Art, home of the Utah Folk Art Collection, and is open by appointment Monday-Friday, 8 a.
m.-5 p.m. To schedule a tour of the exhibits, call Utah Arts & Museums at 801-533-5760. Walk a short distance to the south and you come upon Isaac Chase''s enterprise, the Chase Mill. It is, according to Tracy Aviary, which now operates the facility, Utah''s oldest standing industrial building. Today the restored, adobe-brick structure--with its distinctive gabled roof and big, blocky "B" and "Y" for Brigham Young, its erstwhile owner and co-owner--is used for educational and meeting purposes and can be rented for special events. During the pioneer era, it was a lifesaver.
The mill ground grain for the city''s settlers from 1852 to 1879. The 1941 edition of Utah: A Guide to the State, a Depression-era writers'' and history project, says that Chase "transported the millstones and irons across the plains by ox-team. Free flour from this mill saved many lives in a famine winter of the fifties"--meaning the 1850s. Return north to follow the tree-lined promenade back to Liberty Park''s 900 So.