Sherwood Glen

#126 Southeast corner of 37th St. N. and Womer

Background: This park has an interesting backstory. It was originally part of the Pleasant Valley School system. Pleasant Valley was a separate school district from 1881 to 1964. In 1958 the current building was constructed and named North Pleasant Valley Elementary. In 1973, North Pleasant Valley was renamed to honor John and Anna Michener. Anna was a teacher, leader for social justice and civil rights. To learn more about her amazing story check out: http://www.plazaofheroines.com/Tribute/464.

John Michener was a science teacher at East High. He started a credit union for teachers in his classroom. He moved to a closet under one of East High’s stairwells. He would expand the credit union for other teachers and opened the Wichita City Teachers Credit Union. In 1974 the name was changed to Credit Union of America.

The school system closed Michener in 1983.  A year later the city began leasing the building to the law enforcement and fire training academy.  The academy moved to the WSU campus in 2018.  The city eventually sold the school to Catholic Charities in 2019 to be used for Adult Day Services.  Catholic Charities turned over part of the property to the city to create the park.  The park was upgraded thanks to a donation from the Sherwood Glen Neighborhood Association.

Sherwood Glen consists of the area between Interstate 235, Seneca Street, the Little Arkansas River, and “The Big Ditch”

What we did: It’s not a huge park but the jungle gym was awesome and the climbing piece was huge. The best part was the zero entry merry go round. Which makes it wheel chair friendly.

Next door is a park under construction dedicated to the older folks at Catholic Charities. It features some cool musical instruments, a splash pad, a walking path and a number of swings. It’s going to be nice.

To see more of Wichita’s 126 parks, check out our city parks page.