From gas station to public park: How Spring Park historical site is being transformed

The new public outdoor space and historical site marking the spring around which Newport was founded is expected to open officially in early June.

“It’s truly the remarkable work of people coming together and putting their best talent to it and really having the goal of wanting to memorialize to everyone and people in the future the spot where the people that actually founded the town started and settled the town,” said Maureen Cronin, a member of the Spring Park Leadership Committee and chair of the city’s Tree and Open Space Commission.

What is Spring Park in Newport

The park marks the spot of a natural freshwater spring where historians claim English settlers established the center of the future city of Newport, according to several Newport historians. It had served as the location of a gas station until 2015, when Church Community Housing Corporation purchased the property and began remediation to turn the land into a historical site and public space.

Ground broke on the park project in 2022 and since then, the project has made significant progress. Sidewalk concrete has been poured, lighting has been affixed, sculptures have been erected and now all that is left is clean up and paperwork, Cronin said.

“Like any project of this magnitude you have a lot of governing and regulatory bodies that now have to start going through and signing off on the project, so that’s pretty much the state that we’re at, that’s all that’s really going on,” Cronin said.

How the spring park renovations are being funded

Cronin said the project has cost $5.2 million to build and has been funded largely by Church Community Housing Corporation and donors.

After the leadership committee and Church Community Housing Corporation finishes the regulatory phase, it will officially donate the land and park to the City of Newport for it to maintain and care for the property. Newport City Council approved a Memorandum of Understanding with the corporation in April 2023, which authorizes the city to accept the donated land and includes a conservation easement with Aquidneck Land Trust that restricts the use of the property as a public park.

“It’s been an effort of a big community and it belongs back with the city and it belongs back with present, current and future residents,” Cronin said.

The organization is planning to host a community-wide opening day dedication ceremony in early June when the park finishes construction.

This article originally appeared on Newport Daily News: Spring Park historical site in Newport transformed into public park