#25 Piatt Memorial Park – 2037 N Piatt
Background: The city acquired the park in 1971. It was an active neighborhood until January 16, 1965. A KC-135 refueler took off from McConnell Air Force Base and crashed into a neighborhood. 30 people were killed and many others injured. 10 homes were destroyed.
For years it was a vacant lot. The city bought it and put in the park, but there was still no memorial to the lives lost. The neighborhood had a fundraiser and built the Memorial you see in the pics.
The park is also dedicated to Lynette Woodard, an awesome basketball player from Wichita who became the first female Harlem Globetrotter. Sadly someone stole what I am guessing was a plaque with her image on it.
What we did: We walked around the park, the playground was pretty standard, and just before I sat down to try out the slide I noticed a huge dried pool of barf or goose poop. Either way, it was a no go. The memorial is nice, it is small but does what it needs to do. Remember the terrible day in Wichita history.
I have mentioned it before but I find a certain beauty in the dormant trees, and found the park itself quite peaceful. We saw a man teaching his daughter to swing, unaware of her life taking shape where so many other lives ended.
Check out all of Wichita’s great parks
This next park honors some of Wichita’s greatest sports heroes.