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People sometimes get Williams Park and Williams Memorial Park mixed up. Small wonder, given their similar names. And only one is on the street by the same name, although both are on Broad Street. If that is not helpful, maybe knowing a little history would help keeping straight which is which. In May 1858, New London accepted a gift of land at Williams and Broad Streets to be kept as open ground, and which became known as Williams Park. The donor was General William Williams of Norwich.
Prior to becoming a park, the land was said to be swampy, with a drainage ditch running diagonally from Granite to Broad Street. A few years later the land was filled and used as a drill ground by military companies during the Civil War. After the war ended, the city appropriated money for planting trees and making other improvements. Settees, a fountain, and a music stand were added, thanks to donations from people residing near the park. Although some of the city fathers grumbled about the expense of putting in the fountain, it created interest in the park, which, according to a 1911 article in The Day, ceased to be a dumping place for discarded household tinware, worn out boots and shoes and other rubbish with now and then a dead cat thrown into the heap. For many years, summer entertainment took place in the park and people walked for miles from all over the city to listen to music in the evening. At this time the city was wild about baseball and the park was the site of home games of the citys first organized baseball team. Merchants would close up shop early to get to the park in time to see the first ball pitched. Nevertheless some residents at the edge of the park complained when players chased balls into their yards. So who was General Williams? He was born in Stonington in 1788, became a successful manufacturer, then whaling merchant, and served in the state militia. Although he lived much of his life in Norwich he also lived for a time on Golden Street in New London and visited family living near the future park. Williams Memorial Park is just a couple of blocks away at Hempstead and Broad Streets. A major benefactor of this park was Charles Augustus Williams, also a whaling merchant. Before becoming a park, Williams Memorial Park had been a cemetery, hence the word Memorial. In 1935 there was a fracas in town when someone suggested renaming Williams Park to avoid confusion and to honor Nathan Hale, of whom a statue was about to be placed in the park. The idea was shot down. Actually Williams Park is not named for the street it is on or the donor, William Williams, but for his son, Thomas Williams, who had died young. Which Williams the street is named after is another story. Now that everythings crystal clear, one final note, this years Memorial Day parade will start at Williams (not Williams Memorial) Park and proceed past Williams Memorial Park into downtown. And by the way, both parks have war memorials in them, but Williams Park has more than Williams Memorial.
These are but two of the many public parks in New London. For an urban setting of only six square miles, the city has an amazing amount of open park space. There are some 20 municipal open spaces in New London. And that is not counting the college campuses, the Connecticut College Arboretum, the Fort Trumbull State Park, and the occasional privately owned parklets, such as Perkins Green on Bank Street in front of the Shaw-Perkins Mansion, which is owned by the New London County Historical Society. (Thanks to Marcia Stuart of the Public Library for unearthing The Day articles on which this story is based.) permission of The Oldham Publishing Service (T.O.P.S.) is prohibited. |
