Gainesville celebrates the opening of the new Lincoln Yard Park
Published on July 25, 2024
With community leaders and neighbors in attendance, the City of Gainesville marked the opening of the new Lincoln Yard Park at 2099 SE 8th Avenue with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony July 24. Six months in the making, park construction began in January and was completed in time for summer strolls around the park.
The finished grounds, tucked into a serene pocket of greenspace in the Lincoln Estates neighborhood, includes a scenic walking path, a children’s playground and adult exercise equipment. It also draws on the location’s history to pay homage to the East Gainesville neighborhood’s unique sense of place and purpose.
The significance of that history is clear at the park’s entrance, where visitors encounter a trio of signs at the head of the path stretching beneath the tree canopy. The signs tell the story of “Shaping a Community,” using archival photographs showing some of the neighborhood’s leading figures along with descriptions of the accomplishments and innovations which have made Lincoln Estates an important part of Gainesville’s past, present and future.
“People like Thomas Benjamin ‘T.B.’ McPherson, Andrew Mickle and Catherine Mickle,” said Gainesville Mayor Harvey Ward, addressing the approximately 60 guests. “Individuals who dedicated their lives to elevating Gainesville’s African American community.”
T.B. McPherson served as a teacher, coach and administrator with Alachua County Public Schools for nearly 40 years. He was a fierce advocate for the Lincoln Estates neighborhood and its students. Andrew Mickle, a math teacher and swim coach at Lincoln High School, went on to become aquatics director at the City of Gainesville, teaching thousands of children to swim. His wife, Catherine Mickle, was an educator with a career that spanned from 1957 to 1996, instructing and supporting students at Lincoln High School, the Alachua County School Board District Office and Eastside High School.
District 1 Commissioner Desmon Duncan-Walker, who represents Lincoln Estates, referred to Lincoln Yard Park as a continuing example of what is possible when the community comes together. This observation also draws on history. The southeast Gainesville neighborhood was constructed between 1960 and 1978 by homebuilder Philip Emmer, a developer determined to build affordable, quality homes for African Americans to enter the housing market. The result was a resounding success, attracting national attention as a model of equitable access to home ownership.
Today, the municipal park’s combination of nature, recreation and history creates an atmosphere of honoring the past while stepping into the future.
“We are excited to celebrate the creation of a new park in the Lincoln Estates neighborhood,” said Roxy Gonzalez, Director of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs. “We are witnessing positive, visible changes in Gainesville because of this community’s commitment to its public spaces.”
Lincoln Yard Park was made possible by neighbor support for the Wild Spaces & Public Places surtax.