Early History
Ringgold Park was not originally conceived as a purpose-built urban green space. Instead, it came to be after the loss of the Franklin School by fire on July 19, 1960. Built in 1859, the impressive four-story brick school on Ringgold Street stood on the site for over one hundred years, filling the block between Waltham and Hanson streets. In the several years following the fire, the school’s quarter-acre site lay fallow until neighborhood residents began to advocate for a new public park. On May 25th, 1968, Ringgold Park was formally dedicated, thereby charting its more than fifty-year course as the vital recreation space one sees in the Eight Streets Neighborhood today.
Eight Streets Park
Originally known as “Eight Streets Park”, the space was dominated in its earliest years by a full basketball court, depressed thirty inches below the current half-court. Old-timers from the 70s and 80s might remember this as the “Underground,” or “The Boston Rucker”, which, for a time, attracted some of the best basketball players in the Boston area. Despite the court’s success, the park was, by all accounts, uninviting and unsafe. It lacked maintenance and stewardship first and foremost, but also had poor lighting, a ten-foot high chain-link fence surrounding rusting, unsafe playground equipment, high concrete walls surrounding the Ringgold Street entrance and a barren area strewn with the remnants of several picnic tables.
Catalyst for Change
In August 1994, the shooting of a 15 year-old youth in the park served as the catalyst for change. While the young boy survived, this incident fostered a committed, community effort to solicit the necessary funds from the City of Boston for a redesign of the park. During this time of change, a group of concerned neighbors formed the Ringgold Park Survey Committee. The Committee collected information from adjacent neighborhood groups to decide what should be included in the new design. Once the park was programmed, these same neighbors then formed the Ringgold Park Design Committee to work closely with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department. Through these efforts, the park was renovated in 1996, creating the two tot lots and half basketball court one sees today. At that time, the community had also requested a fountain for the center circle of the park, but short of funds, the City installed a circle of grass instead, which quickly deteriorated due to soil compaction and dog urine acidification.
Ringgold Park has become one of the premier park destinations in Boston. All ages enjoy this
beautiful urban jewel that features a toddler play area, older children’s play structure area,
fountain/splash pad, half-court basketball court, and park benches. Ringgold Park hosts regular
programming, including an annual Easter Egg hunt, St. Patrick’s Day celebration, Fête de la
musique, summer ice cream socials, fall pumpkin giveaway, Halloween celebration, and so
much more!
Friends of Ringgold Fountain
In 2011, as the result of almost a decade of advocacy, community outreach and fundraising by the Friends of Ringgold Park (FORP), the City of Boston completed construction of an interactive yet decorative fountain in the Park’s center, surrounded by granite benches, and flanked by irrigated beds of flowering plants. This fountain replaced a heavily used circular area of spotty grass, weeds and compacted dirt. At that time, the City also installed low hoop fencing around the perimeter plantings, to protect the plants and the privately-funded irrigation system that the FORP installed in 2007. In 2013-14, the City of Boston renovated the two children’s play areas, completely refreshing the park’s elements and creating the park you see today. FORP and the City of Boston held a total of seven community meetings to discuss the renovation of the center circle, and three community meetings to discuss the playground renovation. The resulting design has something for everybody to enjoy. Click here for more “before” photos of Ringgold Park prior to the renovation.