Driving Directions

Riverside Park was established in 1911 with a donation of 20 acres of land to the Borough of Greenville from J.C. Brackin. The Borough then bought additional acreage from the following people:

∙Ten acres – Mrs. William McMillan
∙2 ¾ acres – W. M. Keck
∙Nine acres – John R. Packard
∙½ acre – H.W. Roth
∙½ acre – C. Hodge

         The Greenville Emergency Relief Association (GERA) and its engineers were mainly responsible for the development of these 45 acres. This acreage was nothing but dense woods, and it was cleared by hand by the workers of GERA using their own tools. Those enrolled under GERA, Greenville’s version of the Federal Govt.’s Works Progress Administration (WPA), didn’t want any aid but took it with great reluctance. It was then conceived by the executives of GERA to organize and undertake municipal projects with labor supplied by those enrolled in the program in exchange for food allowances or ‘bean orders’. Each order was worth $18 and was distributed once per month. This practice seems common in this day and age, but was a novelty back then.
        

Packard Park
         Twelve acres of land (nine from Packard, 3 from Riverside Park) were developed into a baseball park in 1915, providing Greenville with a municipally owned park for athletic contests. Packard Park was the scene for many baseball and football contests by Penn High School, Thiel College, and locally sponsored amateur teams. Improvements to the park include a new baseball diamond, new cinder running track, and new grandstands. The borough council donated the materials and the labor was done by various relief agencies. The park was dedicated on May 29th, 1915 and was the finest athletic field for miles around.

         The Greenville Oakhursts (circa 1927) entered their 5th season as a semi-pro team, their county championship season highlighted by a game between them and the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday, Sept. 26. Admission was 50 cents for adults and 25 cents for ladies and children over 12. All grandstand seats were free. Honus Wagner, Pie Traynor, the Waner twins highlighted the stars for the Pirates. The Oakhursts lost 3-0 before 4,000 fans, the biggest athletic attendance in Packard Park history.

        It wasn’t until 1932 when the Borough began developing the park. The wooded area that the park was then was cleared by hand in the winter and spring of 1932-33, and, where the current fishing dock is located, a bathing beach with a diving board was constructed and a picnic pavilion was erected (where the current PCC pavilion is located). Gravel from one of the hillsides of the park was unearthed and used to construct Memorial Drive, the road that runs through the park, which is dedicated to the war dead of Greenville and was dedicated by the local post of the American Legion.

Several hundred feet from the bathing beach a drainage lagoon had been built, cut 75 feet back into the park. Over that lagoon a 75 foot bridge was constructed along with a boathouse, volleyball, mushball, horseshoe and tennis courts. Ice skating took place there, with the ‘PCC’ pavilion as the makeshift shelter to change into skates from shoes.

        Most of the projects begun at Riverside Park were completed by the Civil Works Administration (CWA) and followed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The CWA existed for only one year, because it cost the Federal Govt. $800,000,000 which paid over 4 million workers higher wages. In 1935 the WPA was enacted through FDR’s New Deal Program. It was designed to give people jobs during the Great Depression in exchange for food, clothing, etc. What impact did this have on Greenville? Most of Riverside Park was built through the WPA.

        After the bathing beach and all that other stuff was built, 100 workers showed up in the spring of 1933 to build the amphitheater. Only his time, 50 workers built the amphitheater and the other 50 set out to build the Sea Base.
       
         In 1975 the Borough of Greenville entered into a $120,000 Riverside Park renovation project, highlighted by the purchase of 34 acres of land on the west side of the Shenango River. The purchase of this land was topic dating back to 1967, but discussions became reality in 1974. The land would be use as a nature interpretive area which has a variety of flora and fauna as well as variations in its own geography. Discussions or establishing an outdoor educational program began in 1975 with the Greenville School District.

         Other parts of the developmental project included filling in of lagoons and low-lying swamp areas in Riverside Park, construction of an open and enclosed pavilion, 113 parking spaces, a footbridge to the recently acquired land, toilet facilities, and a trail system. The project was funded through federal funds and state and Borough 50/50 matching funds, costing the local taxpayer nothing extra.

         An error in calculating the depth of bedrock for driving pilings almost derailed the entire project. Original estimates showed shallow bedrock, but another survey conducted by the US Geological Service showed 50 to 150 feet of bedrock, at least double the original projections. This was to add an extra $4,000 to the project, which was unforeseen.

         The bridge consists of two-75 foot I-beams set on top of concrete footers. Construction began in late 1975 and was finished in February 1976 (talk about current bridge repairs). The enclosed pavilion mentioned earlier is now the Nature Center or ‘Dugout’, as it has recently been named.

         During project construction, Thiel and the GGRA approved a contract for joint use of a multi-purpose field owned by Thiel. Now known as Packard Two Softball Field, both Thiel and the GGRA could use the field for any type of program. Any improvements to the field would be the responsibility of the GGRA with Thiel’s permission. GGRA would also maintain the field along with its regular park duties.

         In May of 1977 the Nature Center and Trail officially opened to the public. Groups of six or more could schedule a guided tour or people could walk and enjoy the sights themselves.

         Another renovation project began in 1978 at a cost of $30,500 which included chain link fencing around the tennis and Packard Park baseball field; playground equipment at York Street play lot and Riverside Park and an extension of a storm sewer at York Street. Also in 1978 the GGRA became GALSA due to a $5,000 grant to change the word ‘recreation’ to ‘leisure services’ as part of a pilot program by the PA Dept. of Community Affairs and the Dept. of Education.

         In 1979-80 a drive was put together to raise funds to repair the amphitheater. The Greenville Recycling Center accepted newspapers, glass, tin and aluminum, as well as magazines that would be sold to the library if in good enough condition. The Greenville Kiwanis served as recycling volunteers, Thiel College fraternities were involved in a community wide pick up, and the money that was raised totaled $400. Bob Good, new Rec director since 1979, said the amphitheater needed new stones repointed into the seating area, straightening the walls, raising the center pillars in the rear of the facility, new capstones around the pouter wall, and construction of a new drainage system around the entire area and other erosion control measures. Estimated costs would be around $75 – $100 K.

         In April 1981, amphitheater renovation began with a purse of $1,384 raised over the past year. The breakdown of that total was: recycling, $206; business and industry, $550; individuals, $32; summer concert series, $536; calendar sales, $114; canister collections, $35. Volunteer labor was used, with Joe Durkos doing the masonry work, park employees did general work, as did some members of the Borough’s street department.

         In 1985 the park received a $51,388 grant from the Department of Environmental resources. All work done was performed by the PA Conservation Corps. All pavilions were renovated, and the enclosed pavilion was torn down and completely rebuilt. Renovations included new wiring (both above and underground), gutter work, and handicap parking. Handicap accessibility was also added to the Jaycee and PCC pavilions. A fishing dock was added where it currently sits with handicap accessibility. Also included in this renovation was new backboards, hoops, rewiring of court lights and patching and resurfacing of the basketball court; amphitheater had lower tier stones removed and repointed along with the top three rows; amphitheater stage was rewired; new roof and fence were installed at the recycling center, and wooden guard rails were installed in Riverside Park and Central and York Street parks; the snack bar and dugouts at Cooper Field have been repaired, as well as all of the bleachers in Riverside Park. The frames were made by Greenville Steel Car and new treated lumber seats were bolted on.