What started out as a landfill is now a premier sports and recreation complex. The Atlantic Richfield Company pledged to spend $2.3 million on a park to serve as a waste cap if allowed to dump Colorado tailings in a repository on the site. It was agreed upon and construction began in 1997. Shortly afterwards it was realized that the ground water in the area was insufficient for irrigation needs and a pipeline was built to bring water in from Silver Lake. The complex was finally opened in August of 2001.
The complex includes a playground, a driving range, fishing pond, folf course, Little Guy Football fields, and Three Legends baseball stadium. The stadium is named in honor of Jack Whelan, Jim “Fonz” Hanley, and Jack Cavanaugh who were all instrumental in American Legion baseball in Butte.
]]>Skyline Park opened to the public on June 27, 2015, encompassing a total of 60 acres. It is home to Butte’s first dog park, with three fenced areas dedicated to the community’s canine friends. It also boasts a handicap accessible playground and a fishing pond stocked with west slope cutthroat trout. Beyond the obvious, there is also a landing zone for hang gliders coming from upon the East Ridge.
There are also extensive trails open to pedestrians and bikers with informational signs posted throughout concerning park features and environmental restoration work that has been completed in the area.
The park was named for the Skyline Sportsmen’s Association, which was chartered in Butte in 1958. The organization encourages conservation of wildlife and their habitat, protects rights to public lands, and provides educational programs to all ages.
]]>The property on which Clark Park now sits was first used for traveling circuses coming through Butte. On December 12, 1905, Senator William A. Clark purchased nine acres of land to make a public playground for the “boys of Butte” (Butte Miner- Dec 13, 1905, page 1) with plans to make baseball and football grounds. By doing this, the issue of securing ball grounds at Clark’s other property, the Columbia Gardens, was obliviated. Upon the purchase of the grounds, the park was named for Clark.
By 1914, the city of Butte was leasing the park without charge. In 1915, two skating rinks were created for use free of charge.
In 1921, the grandstands were built, funded by the Butte Electric Railway. The largest gathering of people at the grandstands occurred at the Clark- Anode baseball game in 1923 with 9,382 paid admissions plus 800 children admitted for free. The grandstands were host to countless baseball and football games over the years, including the Bobcat-Grizzly football game from 1926 to 1937, as well annual mid-winter carnivals.
By 1928, the Anaconda Company owned the park. In 1938, the company deeded the park to the people of Butte, granting the city official ownership.
On May 2, 1957, the grandstands caught fire and were a total loss. Over the coming years, the needs of the park were reevaluated and in 1977 a $300,000 reconstruction project ensued creating a new skating rink and baseball field and a warm-up building.
In the 1980s, with the closure of the Columbia Gardens, much of the playground equipment found a home at Clark Park. The cupolas that once graced the dance pavilion were converted into picnic gazebos. The cowboy swings were installed, as well as the umbrella swing.
In 2010, a splash pad was added to the long list of playful opportunities available at the park.
]]>This park was first known as Parrot Flat Park, for the nearby neighborhood of the same name. Its major draw was a baseball diamond with an open field. In 1986, the Machinists Local 88 and Boilermakers Local 130 worked together to transform the park with playground equipment, a track, and grass.
It was renamed from Parrot Park to McGruff Park on August 7, 1990, in honor of the Crimestoppers mascot, “A dog that urges citizens to take a bite out of crime” (Montana Standard, August 6, 1990). At this point it became home to the country-wide event titled “National Night Out” to heighten awareness and prevent crimes in towns across America. On August 1, 2006, the park was renamed McGruff-Manning Memorial Park in memory of Jim Manning, who was dedicated to the BSB Crimestoppers Organization.
The summer of 2006 saw the addition of a highly anticipated skate park.
]]>Originally dubbed the South Side Park, the park encompassed 127 acres. In 1920, it was hotly debated as to what to name the new park but was ultimately decided to name it Stodden Park in honor of Butte’s mayor, William T. Stodden, who gifted the land to the city of Butte.
By 1926, the Exchange Club “first instituted a movement for public links”, to which the mayor and city council recommended the donation of Stodden Park as a site for a municipal golf course. When it first opened in 1927, the course charged $10 for a season pass or 50 cents per day. The course had nine holes, but by 1929 it had expanded to 18 holes.
In 1965, a community effort was started to create a swimming pool. The swimming pool made it onto the ballot but did not pass the bond issue. In 1968, Mr. and Mrs. John E. Corette donated $100,000 towards a pool for the children of Butte. Other monies were secured through a donation from Butte Kiwanis, as well as from Silver Bow County. Stodden Park was named as the site of the new pool and construction started. It opened to the public on August 1, 1969. In 1995, the pool was named Corette Memorial Pool in honor of the original donors. The pool was closed in 2005.
Baseball fields were added to the park in 1974. In 1977, new playground equipment was installed, as well as an additional nine-hole golf course. On Veterans Day 1978, a groundbreaking ceremony was held by a local group of Vietnam War veterans called Tripwire, for an amphitheater and war memorial. Eventually other war memorials were moved to location as well.
More recently, the taxpayers of Butte-Silver Bow voted to create a new water park, which opened in 2018. The public voted to name it Ridge Waters. At the same time the playground was updated with new equipment, funded by the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation and Montana Resources. The park’s upgrade included a 12-foot-high version of the Big M, three 20-foot-tall headframes with slides and climbing walls, new tennis courts, a new entrance from Rowe Road, a pavilion with a gazebo, and picnic tables.
Also housed at Stodden Park is the Spirit of Columbia Gardens Carousel, which was inspired by the carousel that was at the Columbia Gardens, an amusement park created for the children of Butte by Senator William A. Clark in 1899 that was later sold to and operated by the Anaconda Copper Mining Company. The Columbia Gardens caught fire and burned in 1973.
The carousel effort was first organized in 1996, consisting of passionate volunteers who raised money and learned to carve horses. The horses were sponsored by various community groups and families. It opened to the public in 2018 in a building designed by local architect, Pete Godtland.
]]>What is now known as Koprivica Park was once called Max Hebgen Park for the vice-president of the now defunct Montana Power Company. Max Hebgen is credited with switching on Butte’s first incandescent light bulb and he “harnessed the streams of Montana giving him national prominence in hydroelectric development” (Anaconda Standard, April 19, 1916). Hebgen died in 1915 and the park was named shortly after his death. The park at that time was home to the Silver Tips baseball team and boasted a grandstand for spectators to watch the ball game.
In 1990, the Butte-Silver Bow Council of Commissioners renamed the park Koprivica Park in honor of Bob Koprivica. He purchased five acres from the Burlington Northern Railway to expand the park and invested $50,000 into it.
The park was recently outfitted with handicap accessible playground equipment courtesy of Butte-Silver Bow.
]]>Foremen’s Park was built on the remediated grounds of the Mountain Consolidated mine yard. The Mountain Consolidated, or the Con for short, was formed as a consolidation of the Mountain, Burnett, Loweville, and Buffalo Mines. The Mountain Consolidated Mining Company was formed to operate the mine, and by 1887 the mine was owned by the Chambers Syndicate. In 1891, it became the property of the newly incorporated Anaconda Mining Company (to be renamed the Anaconda Copper Mining Company in 1895).
The headframe of the Con, the second tallest of those remaining on the hill, was erected in 1928.
Standing at an elevation of 6,135 feet, the “Con” is more than a mile high and a mile deep, the deepest on the hill. In 2006, Floyd and Margaret Bossard paid to have this bit of trivia proudly painted at the base of the headframe. At the same time, the Bossard’s teamed up with their friends, Bob and Pauline Poore, to have the headframe lit in red LED lights.
The foundation for the mine superintendent’s house can still be seen among the evergreens to the east of the headframe. The park is now named for this feature of the mine yard. The park features two miles of walking trails as well as a pavilion, which the public is available to reserve for private events.
]]>Father John Sheehan was born in Butte in 1908. Raised in Butte, he attended St. Mary's church and school. He became an ordained Catholic priest in June of 1932, returning to his home parish to say his first mass in May of 1933. Father Sheehan served as a chaplain in World War Two and was honorably discharged with the rank of major in 1945. He was awarded the Silver Star, the Bronze Star, the Bronze Star Cluster, and the Purple Heart. Father Sheehan returned to Butte after the war but died in 1946 from war-related injuries.
A park was established in 1951 by the Silver Bow Recreation Association to facilitate a trial run of the Little League Baseball program in the area. The next year the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) of Butte took over the operations of the park. The baseball program was widely received and in April of 1952, the park was named in honor of Father Sheehan who was instrumental in the CYO. Fifty-two years later, on the anniversary of Sheehan’s death, on September 13, 1998, a permanent memorial was placed at the park.
The park became the first sodded field for the children of Butte to play on. In 1962, the Babe Ruth League baseball field was dedicated to the memory of Hiawatha Brown, one of Butte’s all-time athletic greats.
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