In early March, there’s not much to see at Bowman Park except, on Monday, these geese on the river bank.
My bike rides along the Albany riverfront often lead me to Bowman Park, which on Monday, the third of March, was not exactly teeming with activity.
As you can see in the short video below:
But then I got to wondering about this park. I’ve been visiting it for more than 40 years and launched a canoe there a few times. But I had forgotten about how it came to be.
That’s where the archived pages of the Albany Democrat-Herald come in. I found them on newspapers.com, which has a handy search function.
The stories I found refreshed my memory about this riverside acreage at the foot of Geary, Denver and Harrison streets. The bylines also reminded me of the great reporters I worked with a long time ago: Quinton Smith, Lance Robertson, Kathleen Glanville, Peggy McMullen, and others.
Here’s some of what I found in the files.
The land that became Bowman Park, west of what then was Hub City Concrete, was donated to the City of Albany in or around 1966. The donors were Jewel Bowman and a couple identified in the newspaper as Mr. and Mrs. Robert Daly.
For years there was nothing there but blackberry bushes, a few dirt roads and a gravel beach for launching boats.
In the late 1970s people in town stated pushing for improvements at the site, and Parks and Recreation Director Dave Clark responded. For a couple of years he worked to obtain state and federal grants, which made possible the first round of improvements in the summer of 1979.
The files are vague about the cost, but one of the stories mentioned $115,000.
The improved park, with a parking lot, a floating dock and a concrete boat ramp, along with paths and a restroom, was dedicated in 1980. (A new restroom, paid for by the State Marine Board, replaced the old one just a few years ago.)
I didn’t think about any of that when I stopped in Bowman Park Monday and leaned the bike on a curb. As you may have seen on the video, I just watched those geese and then took off again.
But now at least I know how the park got its name. (hh)
Were you aware that the area now occupied by Monteith Park had been a cement plant?
I don’t recall the name but it was operating into the mid 60’s.