Joe Creason Park
| Joe Creason Park | |
|---|---|
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| Type | Municipal park |
| Location | Louisville, Kentucky, United States |
| Coordinates | 38°12′36″N 85°42′24″W / 38.21°N 85.7067°WCoordinates: 38°12′36″N 85°42′24″W / 38.21°N 85.7067°W |
| Area | 68 acres (280,000 m2) |
| Created | 1966 |
| Operated by | Louisville Metro Parks |
| Status | Open |
Joe Creason Park is a municipal park in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Located in the Poplar Level neighborhood, it is in roughly the central portion of the city. The park adjoins and connects to Beargrass Creek State Nature Preserve, and both were originally part of the same property prior to becoming parks.
The park is located on the south fork of Beargrass Creek. It opened as a park in 1966.
The park is named for Joe Creason, a popular features journalist for The Courier-Journal, who died while playing tennis at the park's Louisville Tennis Center in 1974.
In 1789, Joseph Kinney and Basil Prather purchased the land that became the park as adjoining estates from Robert Daniel. Kinney built a house where the current Metro Parks administration building stands; Prather's house was located to the northwest, across Illinois Avenue near where the Quarry Shopping Center is today.
Kinney's estate was called Fox Hill and passed through several owners. John B. Castleman, a Confederate veteran and local real estate investor, owned the property from 1885 to 1894 and renamed it Castleford. Ben Collings, a construction materials supplier specializing in concrete, purchased the property in 1937 and renamed it Colonial Farms.
The Basil Prather estate was partitioned after his death, with numerous owners over the years until they were acquired for the temporary Camp Taylor operation during World War I. Ben Collings permanently reassembled them after the war.
Collings accumulated almost 200 acres (0.81 km2) by the time of his death in 1951, including much of what became the Louisville Zoo. His widow sold some of the land to private interests and the Archdiocese of Louisville. Bellarmine College purchased the remainder of the estate. In 1966, the city of Louisville paid Bellarmine approximately $600,000 ($4.43 million today) for 68 acres (280,000 m2), including the mansion.
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