Southwestway Park is the third largest park in
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
, Indiana. It is located at 8400 Mann Road in the southwestern section of the city and covers approximately on the west bank of the
White River, bordered on the north by Southport Road, on the west by Mann Road, and extending south past Ralston Avenue.
History
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Indianapolis Parks Department began efforts to develop large regional parks in each quadrant of
Marion County. To that end, it obtained of farmland between Mann Road and the White River, of which were developed in 1968 into a 9-hole municipal golf course.
In 1968 the city bought an additional on both sides of Mann Road north of the golf course. At the time it was anticipated that the area would continue to be used, as it had been when privately owned, for off-road motorcycling; however, environmental concerns prevented that from happening. In late 1984 the city obtained another between Mann Road and the White River north of the 1968 purchase. The total acreage at that time was including the golf course.
By 2004, the golf course, now known as Winding River Golf Course, had been expanded into an 18-hole, par-72 facility with a driving range, covering . The park itself contained .
Finally, in 2002, the Indianapolis Parks Foundation and the city together bought north and adjacent to Southwestway Park and along the White River, bringing the total size of the park and golf course to .
Park activities and buildings
* Hiking trails
* Mountain biking trails
* Horseback riding trails
* Playground
* Shelter (1)
* Soccer fields (8)
* Baseball/softball diamonds (3)
Winding River Golf Course(18-hole course + driving range)
Natural areas
Southwestway Park contains some of the most outstanding geological features in
central Indiana. Some of the most notable features include:
*
Floodplain forest
*
Mesic
Mesic may refer to:
* Mesic, North Carolina, a town in the United States
* Mesic habitat, a type of habitat
See also
*Mesić (disambiguation)
*Mešić Mešić is a Bosnian surname, a patronymic derived from the masculine given name '' Meša'', it ...
upland forest
*
Graminoid
In botany and ecology, graminoid refers to a herbaceous plant with a grass-like morphology, i.e. elongated culms with long, blade-like leaves. They are contrasted to forbs, herbaceous plants without grass-like features.
The plants most ofte ...
fen
* Successional fields
* Cottonwood Lake
*
Kame
A kame, or ''knob'', is a glacial landform, an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed of sand, gravel and till that accumulates in a depression on a retreating glacier, and is then deposited on the land surface with further melting of the g ...
*
White River
A pair of bald eagles have hatched young near the White River in Southwestway Park.
See also
*
List of parks in Indianapolis
This list of parks in Indianapolis provides a general overview of parkland in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Parks in the city are managed primarily by the City of Indianapolis Department of Parks and Recreation, also known as Indy Parks ...
References
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*
External links
*
{{Parks in Indianapolis
Urban public parks
Parks in Indianapolis