Winterset City Park is a public, city-owned park in

Winterset, Iowa Winterset is a city in and the county seat of Madison County, Iowa. The population was 5,353 at the time of the 2020 census. Winterset is part of the Des Moines metropolitan area. It is the birthplace of actor John Wayne. History Winterset ...

, United States. The first acres of land was bought on May 21, 1869, for cattle to graze on. In the 1950s, the land was converted into a city park. On March 10, 2021, Winterset City Park was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

after it was nominated in 2020.

History

On May 21, 1869, Winterset bought of land from Washington Cassidy and R. A. Sitt for $57.50. of land was bought from C. D. Bevington and J. J. Hutchings for $2,000 on October 15, 1872. The final of what was to be Winterset City Park years later was bought on September 17, 1825, from Henry Smith for $200. The acres of land was originally used for grazing cattle until the 1950s when the city was deciding on selling the land. The citizens disagreed and some of the women in Winterset gained permission from the city government to raise money to preserve the land as a place for leisure. The women were successful and the city decided to not sell the land. A. W. Crawford, who lived in Winterset, donated $25,000 in 1917 towards park renovation. Part of the money was used to buy and miles of road through the park was created.

Clark Tower '' This article is about a structure in Winterset, Iowa. For the building commonly called Clark Tower in Memphis, Tennessee, see Clark Tower Executive Suites'' Clark Tower is a castle-like limestone tower located in Winterset City Park in Wi ...

is located in the park. The tower was built from 1926 to 1927 to stand as a memorial for Caleb and Ruth Clanton Clark, one of the original pioneer families that settled in Madison County. It was built by the couple's descendants. The

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

tower is wide and high. A short distance from Clark Tower is a stone house's ruins, where it is claimed that

Frank Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Curr ...

and

Jesse James Jesse Woodson James (September 5, 1847April 3, 1882) was an American outlaw, bank and train robber, guerrilla and leader of the James–Younger Gang. Raised in the " Little Dixie" area of Western Missouri, James and his family maintained stro ...

slept one night. It is also rumored that the house is haunted. Around 1918, a descendant of one of the pioneer families donated $20,000 for the construction of a shelter house. The shelter house was not built until 1957 and it cost $28,000 to construct the house out of limestone. Another limestone building was built in 1961 to store park equipment and restrooms. Winterset City Park also has a log cabin that contains two rooms. To the north of the cabin, there is a six-ton granite boulder that commemorates the discovery of the

Red Delicious Red Delicious is a type of apple with a red exterior and sweet taste that was first recognized in Madison County, Iowa, in 1872. Today, the name ''Red Delicious'' comprises more than 50 cultivars. From 1968 to 2018, it was the most produced cu ...

apple in Madison County in 1872. The boulder was erected in 1922.

Modern day

The park contains the Cutler–Donahue Covered Bridge which was used in the novel ''

The Bridges of Madison County ''The Bridges of Madison County'' (also published as ''Love in Black and White'') is a 1992 best-selling romance novel by American writer Robert James Waller that tells the story of a married Italian-American woman (WWII war bride) living on a ...

'' and its

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

. Park facilities include shelters,

picnic A picnic is a meal taken outdoors ( ''al fresco'') as part of an excursion, especially in scenic surroundings, such as a park, lakeside, or other place affording an interesting view, or else in conjunction with a public event such as preceding ...

areas,

restrooms A public toilet, restroom, public bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils ...

, a sand-pit

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

area, a

campground A campsite, also known as a campground or camping pitch, is a place used for camping, overnight stay in an outdoor area. In British English, a ''campsite'' is an area, usually divided into a number of pitches, where people can camp overnight u ...

, a

hedge maze A hedge maze is an outdoor garden maze or labyrinth in which the "walls" or dividers between passages are made of vertical hedges. History Hedge mazes evolved from the knot gardens of Renaissance Europe, and were first constructed during the mi ...

, and parking. On March 10, 2021, Winterset City Park was placed on the

after it was nominated for its 2020 review.

References

{{reflist Winterset, Iowa Protected areas of Madison County, Iowa Urban public parks Parks in Iowa