Clark Park
On Our Radar $
Why it’s on our radar
Southwest Detroit’s big neighborhood park, and twice now the neighbors have refused to let it close. When the city shut it down in 1991, Anthony Benavides and a few residents formed the Clark Park Coalition, raised money, made the repairs themselves and took over running it. When the recession hit in 2008 and the city couldn’t keep up with mowing and utilities, they kept it open again.
The outdoor ice rink is one of the few left in the city and is home to youth hockey, including a girls’ program, with recent help from the Red Wings and partners.
The baseball field has its own patron. Jack White grew up a few blocks away on Ferdinand Street and played ball here as a kid, and as an adult he quietly paid nearly $170,000 to rebuild the field, asking the coalition to leave his name out of it. Word got out in 2009.
Stop 2 on our Jack White’s Detroit: From Ferdinand Street to Third Man.
