LITHIA PARK

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History

This is the largest park in Ashland and was created to rid of the city of dilapidated industrial site.

The entrance of the park used to be flour mill built by some of the first pioneers in the area. It was also the first building built in Ashland – it was called Ashland Mills at the time (1852). By the beginning of the 20th century the mill site was almost completely abandoned except for a few livestock.

In 1908 the Women’s Civic Improvement Club petitioned City Council to create a park in the area. They created a city charter establishing a parks commission and setting aside all city owned property along the Ashland Creek as a park.

Over the decades the parks commission created many more parks in Ashland but Lithia Park itself began to suffer from neglect. In 1974 flooding dealt what could have been a death blow to the park had the citizens not voted for the funds to clean the park up.

In 1997 the park was flooded again and again the residents voted to save it.

Today, many improvements have been made to the Ashland Creek so it no longer floods out the park or the downtown core.

In 2014 the park was named one of 10 Great Public Spaces in America.

Paranormal Activity

The haunting is said to be due to a girl being raped and murdered here in the 19th century when the land was a partially abandoned industrial wasteland.

A blue, described as eerie, light is said to cover the duck pond that is said to be her spirit still lingering in the area. The light often begins to flicker faster and faster until suddenly disappearing as suddenly as it appeared.

Orbs of blue light have also been seen floating over the pond and seemingly interacting with one another.