MUNCIE, Ind. — A new city park is now available to the public after the ribbon was cut by residents and Mayor Ridenour. Where Storer Woods Elementary once stood is now a 34-subdivision lot called Storer Estates. 

In collaboration with the Muncie Sanitary District, this project will address the area’s drainage issues and provide more housing for Muncie residents. With a shortage of parks in Muncie’s north-west side. The initial plan was to build a playground for the neighborhood. With the help of funding from the Muncie Redevelopment Commission or MRC and Mayor Ridenour’s EDIT fund, this park would become a city park of Muncie. 

“I’m thrilled with the way it looks; I love the trail that's around,” Ridenour said. “We’ve been watching people use that for some time and you know, it all promotes good getting outdoors enjoying nature.”

Jeff Howe, director of MRC, said the collaborative process was great, and everyone was dedicated to making a change. 

“Great partnership, everybody wanted to see good things happen so everybody was can-do, how do we get it to happen, and just trying to be good partners and making sure that everyone was doing anything to move the project forward in a positive way,” Howe said. 

Storer Woods and Westbrier neighborhoods came together to develop a plan for this park. Ryan Ellsworth, an architect in the neighborhood, could not pass up this opportunity to design the park with the help of his neighbors. 

“I tried to take as many of those ideas as I could, keeping it as on budget as I could, and draw the floorplans, draw the renderings, we did 3D models of everything to show come back and show the neighbors a first pass of what it could look like,” Ellsworth said. 

Storer Woods Park is a step forward in restoring the abandoned area that, for some, held so many nostalgic memories. Now open to the community, new and familiar families can create new memories.

Contact Kahmara Munn with comments at kahmara.munn@bsu.edu.

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