Emerson Dog Park

Serving the Riverside/Normal City Neighborhood, Emerson Dog Park, formerly known as Emerson Memorial Greenspace Park, is located on the site of the former Emerson Elementary School. In the early 1990’s, Muncie Community Schools deeded this property to the City of Muncie for recreational purposes. Bounded by secondary roads, the park’s perimeter is lined with sidewalks. A large concrete globe is located at each corner of the property. The property is divided in half with a short brick wall that runs east-west; the northern half of this property is flush with the top of the wall. An asphalt walkway runs from the middle of the property’s southern boundary to a centrally located rectangular area. Here the school’s original entrance stairs direct visitors to a memorial for Emerson Elementary School. The memorial includes part of the school’s foundation, a large plaque providing information about the school, and two large original monoliths, one with the school’s name and one with the year it was dedicated (1922). Benches rehabilitated by a former resident of the neighborhood are located throughout the property. This park was originally designed by Malcolm Cairns, Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, Ball State University. The park was designed to allow for informal active recreation in the northern half of the park providing a central gathering space around rehabilitated foundation remaining from the school in the center of the block and passive recreation in the southern half of the park. The majority of the northern half of the property was open for spontaneous play while the southern half contains several large shade trees. In 2013, the entire park converted into a dog park. The park’s perimeter was fenced. The park’s northsouth division was maintained with additional fencing located just south of the short brick wall. The northern half is fenced in for all dogs while the southern half is reserved for small dogs. Each half of the park includes a dog waste station and a water fountain that serves both people and dogs.