Big Spring Park (Huntsville, Alabama)
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Big Spring
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Big Spring Park
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| Location | W. Side Sq., Huntsville, Alabama |
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| Coordinates | 34°43′47″N 86°35′9″W / 34.72972°N 86.58583°WCoordinates: 34°43′47″N 86°35′9″W / 34.72972°N 86.58583°W |
| Area | 12.5 acres (5.1 ha) (park) |
| MPS | Downtown Huntsville MRA |
| NRHP Reference # | 80000704 |
| Added to NRHP | September 22, 1980 |
Big Spring International Park (also known as Big Spring Park) is located in downtown Huntsville, Alabama. The park is built around its namesake "Big Spring", the original water source that the city of Huntsville was built around. The park is also notable as the venue for the Panoply Arts Festival, held the last full weekend in April, and the Big Spring Jam, an annual music festival held on the fourth weekend in September from 1993 to 2011.
The Big Spring is a large, underground karst spring. Hearing of the abundant water source and plentiful big game, John Hunt, Huntsville's founder, sought out the spring and settled near it in 1805 on the bluff above, which later became the site of the First National Bank of Huntsville. Isaac and Joseph Criner had previously reached the Big Spring and considered settlement, but due to the presence of bears and mosquitoes left to settle New Market instead. During the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, the spring was Huntsville's water source, due to its massive flow. The Big Spring is the largest limestone spring in North Alabama, with its usual flow between 7 and 20 million US gallons (76,000 m3) per day, depending on the time of the year.
From 1827 to the early 1840s, what would later become the park grounds served as the site of the Fearn Canal, built from 1821 to 1824. The canal was built by the Indian Creek Navigation Company, led by local resident Dr. Thomas Fearn. It linked downtown Huntsville and the spring to the Tennessee River, allowing traders to bypass a costly wagon haul of about 11 miles South to the nearest river port, Ditto's Landing in the town of Whitesburg. The canal eventually became obsolete upon the construction of railroads.
The Big Spring also served as the source of the city's water supply from settlement to the late 1960s when the Tennessee Valley Authority built the water treatment plant on the Tennessee River. The first pumphouse was built in the 1830s. It was enclosed in 1850s. A water turbine pushed water up the bluffs through cedar pipes to reach the city's residents. Until 1840, the city waterwork's system was privately owned by the family of settler LeRoy Pope. His son sold the land to the city cheaply on the condition his heirs received their water for free and that the space around the Big Spring Basin would be open to the public. The first pumphouse was torn down in 1860 prior to the American Civil War and replaced by the second pumphouse made out of stone. New pumps were put in but little changed during the war. In 1890, the second pumphouse was extended with a new wing and smokestack to meet the new water needs as the city expanded and the new Monte Sano Hotel. This pumphouse was torn down by Col. Hiram. W. Chittenden of the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers in 1899 and moved the waterworks system further into the city. The third pumphouse would stand near California street until the 1960s when the water treatment plant would be built on the Tennessee River.
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