The parks department and the present inventory

ANCHOR ENTRY · VERIFIED NOVEMBER 2026

The department that keeps all of this is documented at its modern end and thin at its founding: The system's governing body stands in the record by 1995, when the Battell Park nomination names the park's owner as the "City of Mishawaka, Board of Parks and Recreation," of 1122 Lincolnway West. The department today administers the parks from the Battell Community Center at 904 North Main Street; its board of directors — John Coppens, president, on the 2022 activity guide — meets on the second and fourth Mondays at the center. Its modern succession is attested at its working end only: Phil Blasko is superintendent of parks in the 2022 guide and in the Tribune's June 2022 account of the Merrifield pool's reopening; Carmen Maes was the department's director of recreation in 2004, on the Tribune's Easter-egg-hunt account; Kevin Carter directed the pools in 2001–2002; and George Fowler superintended the golf course in 2022. The department's founding date, its first superintendent and the succession between stand unestablished in the sources — the run of the Tribune and the park board's own minutes are the settling sources, and the gap is named rather than filled.

The present inventory is verified as of November 2026, and its count is a printed conflict of definitions rather than a number: the city's current parks page promises "over 25 parks"; the department's 2022 activity guide counts "28 public parks"; the carried department copy in the standard reference article counts "a total of 29 parks"; and a relocation guide counts 26. The named system itself is not in dispute: Battell, Central, Merrifield, Rose, Beutter Riverfront, Lincoln Park and Kate's Garden, Kamm Island, George Wilson Park, the Eberhart-Petro golf course, Shiojiri Niwa, Honor Park, Heroes Park, Mary Gibbard Park, Crawford Park, Laing Park and their fellows, kept open on the department's standing hours of 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. A system that began as a speculator's withheld pleasure ground in 1836 and a family's gift in 1881 now lines both banks of the river that made the city — which is where this record of the water and the green ground rests.

Sources:

1. National Register nomination, Battell Park Historic District (1995) — the Board of Parks and Recreation as the park's owner of record.
2. City of Mishawaka, 2022 Parks Activity Guide — the board of directors and its president; the meeting days; the Battell Community Center offices; Superintendent Phil Blasko; Golf Course Superintendent George Fowler; the count of 28 public parks; the park hours.
3. South Bend Tribune, 2004 and 2001–2002 accounts — Recreation Director Carmen Maes (2004); Pool Director Kevin Carter (2001–2002).
4. City of Mishawaka parks pages (November 2026) — "over 25 parks"; the standard reference article's carried count of 29; the relocation guide's 26.