Published: August 07, 2008 11:08 pm            

Walkpath a tour through city’s history

On a bright, unseasonably mild August day, the green grass growing where Kokomo once buried its dead was lush and green, shaded by the trees growing along Wildcat Creek.

It’s a corner of Kokomo seldom visited, apart from the curious seeking Chief Kokomo’s resting place.

But the 11-acre site of the city’s first cemetery is about to be rediscovered as the city’s Wildcat Walk of Excellence nears completion.

Kokomo’s older generations remember the fields next to the big bend of the Wildcat, thanks to the tennis courts and practice fields where Wildkats honed their skills; where cross country runners held meets.

But the dilapidated backstops behind the two baseball diamonds, the unused former football practice field and the unmowed jumble of weeds at the east end of the site dubbed “Future Park” attest to its disuse.

Before a 120-foot, steel bridge was lowered into place across the Wildcat Creek last month, the best way to get to the secluded bottom land was via an alley running south from Superior Street, just behind the old Kokomo football stadium, Kautz Field.

The bridge, however, is part of the Walk of Excellence, which when complete will stretch from UCT Park on the city’s near west side, to Waterworks Park on the city’s near east side.

The “Future Park” area — as city administration officials have dubbed it — is an area with untapped potential.

In the near term, it will be ringed with a paved circle, almost a half-mile in length, running along the woods on the south side of the park. The school storage pole barn, now on the north side of the acreage, will be torn down, and the city will build a new shed on the east end of the fields.

Yet to be determined is what will happen to the old practice fields.

“I don’t know, to be honest. We really haven’t gotten to that point in the discussions yet,” said Kokomo Downtown Association Director John Wiles, who is writing a history of the old cemetery site.

He said the 11 acres was the city’s first cemetery until flooding problems convinced the locals to disinter the remains there and move them to the newly opened Crown Point Cemetery in 1868.

Many bones left behind at the original Pioneer Cemetery — including Indian remains — were eventually collected and placed into a common grave near Chief Kokomo’s monument, Wiles added.

The site around Chief Kokomo’s monument is now known as Pioneer Cemetery; the bottom land once home to the original Pioneer Cemetery was never really renamed, as far as Wiles can tell.

But Wiles isn’t expecting any surprise finds when construction begins on the asphalt loop around the old cemetery ground.

“It’s not just an urban walkpath,” Kokomo parks superintendent John Martino said. “Not only does it link some of our most popular attractions — Kokomo Beach, Foster Park — but it also ties in some of our city’s most historical areas.”

The paved ring will connect the Wildcat bridge to the alley behind Kautz Field, which in turn runs past what we now call Pioneer Cemetery.

At Superior Street, the path will simply follow the sidewalk on the south side of the street to Crown Point Cemetery. The path will continue east through the current Crown Point paths to Ohio Street, and then head south to Waterworks Park.

Evidence of the path’s progress can be seen between Main and Union streets downtown, on the south side of Wildcat Creek.

A boardwalk, bordered by a concrete flower bed median, is nearly complete. Like all parts of the $1 million Phase 2 portion of the walkpath (Main Street to Waterworks Park), the boardwalk was built by contractors Beaty Construction, Indianapolis.

The path will continue from Union on to Apperson Way (as a simple paved path), and then cross Apperson, traveling around the perimeter of the school parking lot to the new Wildcat bridge. Perennials and native grasses will be planted in the flower bed medians,

And Wiles is forming plans to mark the history of the quiet fields along the Wildcat, by placing a plaque near the new bridge.

“There’s a lot of history there to be identified,” Wiles said.

Scott Smith may be reached at (765) 454-8569 or via e-mail at scott.smith@kokomotribune.com

        

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