LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- City leaders and neighborhood activists came together Monday to ceremonially cut the ribbon on a multimillion-dollar renovation to Elliott Park in west Louisville.

Elliott Park is in the Russell neighborhood, two blocks from the new West Louisville Norton Hospital, one of seven parks in the Olmsted Park Conservancy's historic park system. 

"I think we all here today agree that parks do so much to enhance the quality of everyone's life," Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said Monday.

Jackie Floyd, a Russell neighborhood liaison, said this park on 28th Street signals that the community is on the move. 

"We've got the Goodwill opportunity corner. We've got Norton Hospital. We have ElderServe ..." Floyd said. "We have something for everyone."

Once called Eclipse Park, Elliott Park was the original home to the Louisville Eclipse and the Louisville Colonels of Major League Baseball until 1892, when a fire at the ballpark forced the owners to build anew nearby. 

Olmsted said the restoration plan was broken down into three focuses:

  • Accessibility: The design will improve movement for people of all abilities visiting and using the park amenities
  • Equity: The design will cater to all park users and be flexible for various activities and gathering sizes
  • Sustainability: The design will improve existing amenities and preserve valuable landscape features, like mature trees

The park and other recreational amenities like it are critical to a west Louisville neighborhood that has seen more than its fair share of violence in 2024. According to Louisville Metro Police data, there have been 12 homicides already this year in the Russell neighborhood, the most at any point in a year since at least 2010.

"I get kind of nervous every week coming through the church, because kids are playing in the street," said Rev. Broderick Purvis, the pastor of a church in the neighborhood. "The park really wasn't a safe place, but now it's beautiful."

The project, which cost nearly $3 million, was funded in several ways:

  • $725,000 raised by the Olmsted Parks Conservancy from local donors, including the James Graham Brown Foundation and LDG Development
  • $650,000 from former Mayor Greg Fischer's fiscal year 2022 budget
  • $500,000 allocated by Fischer from American Rescue Plan funding
  • $1.1 million approved by Metro Council in 2023 at Greenberg's recommendation

"Our babies are finally getting what they deserve," Floyd said.

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