On August 26 at 11:30, roughly 75 people gathered at Cooke Park for the official ribbon-cutting, capping a years-long transformation of the former Cooke Elementary School property into a fully accessible neighbourhood park. The $1.352 million project includes an inclusive playground, a picnic shelter, restrooms, a bicycle repair station, walking paths and a parking area, along with the splash pad that was completed this month, according to WGIL.com. The ceremony, conducted by the Galesburg Area Chamber of Commerce, took place with the new splash pad running behind the crowd, water spraying and a light mist drifting over the gathering.
The city purchased the former school property in December 2022 to create a neighbourhood park that is accessible, inclusive and welcoming to all residents.
He said he still carries a scar from his time on the playground. “I scarred my leg over here chasing a boy ’cause I liked the girl,” White said. White said he hopes the new park will do for the whole city what the old school grounds once did for his neighbourhood. “There’ll be some people over here that came from the north side of town, and they’re gonna meet some kid from the south side of town, and they don’t know where they’re from, and they’re gonna become friends,” White said. Margaret Gimenez, who attended Cooke School in the 1940s, said she and a friend, Darlene Howard, were the first girls to serve as patrol guards at the school after she asked the principal why only boys held the role. “I said, ‘How come you don’t have girl patrol boys?’” Gimenez said. “She says, ‘You want to be one? I said, ‘Yeah.’” Gimenez said the school grounds had none of the equipment found at the new park. We had a monkey bar,” Gimenez said.
White attended Cooke School from second through sixth grade. “It’s just so many great memories. Baseball out here, I tried out for Little League over here. It was just a place for the community. “That’s what this is gonna do, I hope. “We didn’t have swings or nothing. “I’m so happy that (Pacheco) took the initiative to do this, and I know it was hard work. I’m proud of her. The site was chosen after strong public support for more recreational amenities on Galesburg’s southwest side.
Cooke Elementary School operated on the property for decades before closing in 2014, and a handful of attendees who grew up nearby shared memories from their own school days there. For several people at Wednesday’s ceremony, the site carried much more significance and history.