The pocket park known as College Park is at the crosswalk of Hedding and Elm Street across from Bellarmine.
If you know it at all, you may know it as the loop you use to drop your son off at Bellarmine. Cars exit Hedding on Elm, drop of their student behind the cafeteria, take a left at the robotics shop, take another left at the Rugby/LaCross fields and then take a left on Elm where College Park's park is.
It's one of those nicely designed and landscaped sections that you think was always there. Most folks have no idea how it was urban blight left over from the Hedding Street bridge built over the railroad tracks. It took the vision of a top New York Life Insurance Salesman looking for a way to give back to his community to make it happen. It was one of those retirement projects that are so rare in our neighborhood because so many people move out of the area when they retire.
In 2002 , College Park resident Stan Ochs spent 3 years working hard to turn an empty desolate lot into a well manicured little park. Stan was an amazing community builder knocking door to door, raising $10,000, getting a grant from then City Councilman Ken Yaeger, asking a local designer to design the park for free, working with Bellarmine, everything that was needed to overcome the inertia of making College Park a more attractive place Stan did.
In 2006 we lost him, but he isn't forgotten. His commitment to making our neighborhood a better one lives on. His wife Jan Ochs, along with neighborhood volunteers and students attending Bellarmine College Preparatory have managed to keep up on the landscaping.
Rest In Peace
Stanford T. Ochs
Jan. 2, 1941 - March 18, 2006
If you know it at all, you may know it as the loop you use to drop your son off at Bellarmine. Cars exit Hedding on Elm, drop of their student behind the cafeteria, take a left at the robotics shop, take another left at the Rugby/LaCross fields and then take a left on Elm where College Park's park is.
It's one of those nicely designed and landscaped sections that you think was always there. Most folks have no idea how it was urban blight left over from the Hedding Street bridge built over the railroad tracks. It took the vision of a top New York Life Insurance Salesman looking for a way to give back to his community to make it happen. It was one of those retirement projects that are so rare in our neighborhood because so many people move out of the area when they retire.
In 2002 , College Park resident Stan Ochs spent 3 years working hard to turn an empty desolate lot into a well manicured little park. Stan was an amazing community builder knocking door to door, raising $10,000, getting a grant from then City Councilman Ken Yaeger, asking a local designer to design the park for free, working with Bellarmine, everything that was needed to overcome the inertia of making College Park a more attractive place Stan did.
In 2006 we lost him, but he isn't forgotten. His commitment to making our neighborhood a better one lives on. His wife Jan Ochs, along with neighborhood volunteers and students attending Bellarmine College Preparatory have managed to keep up on the landscaping.
Rest In Peace
Stanford T. Ochs
Jan. 2, 1941 - March 18, 2006