Community partners and friends gathered at the corner of W High and N Ella on Saturday, October 23 to dedicate the Orr Park Gateway. 

“There have been many additions to the park over the years.” remarked Mark Zook, ODF Board member and Gateway Project Manager. “It's kind of unique that after almost a hundred years, we were actually able to add 7 acres in the middle of the park, after the City had already built around it,”

The project, led by the Orrville Development Foundation (ODF), commenced in spring 2019 with the goal of creating an attractive entryway to Orr Park and the Orrville City Schools campus. The Gateway Planning Committee included all adjacent landowners so that everyone was an equal partner in creating a vision for what the entire property would become.

In his opening remarks, Dave Hershey, president, ODF, reflected on how the Gateway Project refocused the organization’s efforts towards meaningful development opportunities for the betterment of the Orrville community.

Lori Reinbolt, ODF Vice President and Secretary, recognized the individuals that participated on the Gateway Planning Committee for the past two years and thanked them for their dedication to seeing the project to completion. The committee included: Mayor, Dave Handwerk, Steve Wheeler, Kristin Endsley, Dan Lowe, Ryan Immel, John Scott, Paul Vance, CJ Handwerk, Jon Ritchie, Maribeth Burns and Kyle Zook. M Zook was recognized for his leadership as project manager. 

Research of Orr Park’s historical timeline was credited to Nicole LaFlamme, Heritage and Creative Assets Manager, The J.M. Smucker Company (JMS) and Elizabeth Wagner, Orrville Historical Society. Niko Elenchevski, Graphic Designer, JMS, volunteered his talents to design the six historical markers that line the walkway.

Funding for the walkway was provided by the Carl E. Congdon, Jr. and Susanna Congdon McIntyre Memorial Fund at the Wayne County Community Foundation and designated funds from the ODF.

“It is fitting that the grant for this project came from the Congdon Fund, because Carl Congdon was the great-great-grandson of Judge Smith Orr, founder of the City of Orrville, for whom the park is named,” noted Sally Patton, Executive Director, WCCF. “In addition, Carl’s mother Maud and her sister, Charlotte Chamberlin, donated the initial 15 acres of park land in 1921.”

Zook acknowledged the many local vendors that contributed their services, most notably his son, Kyle, who volunteered his architectural skills and worked with the committee to develop a vision for the property.

Kyle explained that the horizontal pavers, darker in the middle of the walkway and lighter on the edge, were selected to reflect Orrville’s railroad heritage. Corten steel, the material used to craft the large Orr Park signpost and the smaller historical markers, was actually used in the 1930’s to build railroad cars.

The dedication concluded with a ribbon cutting to officially hand off the property from the ODF as a gift to the City of Orrville.   

Future development on the site between the walkway and the Pickle Ball Courts is yet to be determined but may include a restroom facility, entertainment area and additional Pickle Ball Courts.

The public is invited to visit the Gateway to discover more about the original park commission, the individuals whose foresight to preserve land for the purpose of a community park continues to provide recreational benefit to the Orrville community.

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Orrville Development Foundation officially gifted the Orr Park Gateway to the City of Orrville in a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony on October 23. Members of the planning committee on hand for the celebration included: Lori Reinbolt, Maribeth Burns, Jon Nicole Laflamme, CJ Handwerk, Jon Ritchie, Mayor Dave Handwerk (with scissors), Steve Wheeler, Kyle Zook, Mark Zook and Dave Hershey.