‘Going to bring new life’: A Rock Hill community park with deep roots gets a new look
Derrick Lindsay went to Cub Scouts at Carroll Park. He recalls where the neighborhood swimming pool used to be. Long before he became a Rock Hill City Council member, Lindsay was a kid at the park not yet old enough to get a basketball game with the bigger boys.
So he watched.
Lindsay isn’t too young to play anymore. Yet there he stood Thursday, watching again.
“We spent a lot of time at this park growing up,” the councilman said. “So I’d love to see the renovations. I’m excited about it. And it’s going to bring new life to the park.”
More than 100 volunteers gathered Thursday for the first stages of what will be more than $250,000 in Carroll Park improvements. Volunteers cleaned back overgrowth and laid mulch. Some assembled new bleachers. Others laid seed, sod or erosion control. At least two volunteers repainted the main park sign.
“For the community, it’s really going to be impactful,” said Republic Services general manager Glenn Kavanagh. “They do a lot here, and to be able to come down here and now have a better use of the space is going to be rewarding for everybody involved.”
Republic Services partnered with Habitat for Humanity of York County on renovations at the park, and for a half dozen nearby homes on Carroll, Cornelius and Robinson streets, plus Crawford Road. A national neighborhood grant through the company put $160,000 into the local work. The city came along as a partner with another $109,000 in matching money.
Volunteers cleared, mulched, assembled and painted at the 11-acre park on Simrill Street, a hub of activity in the Crawford Road neighborhood. Little Free Libraries were constructed. Porch steps were repaired on homes.
In coming months workers will install a covered picnic shelter with seating, grills, two new basketball hoops and a multi-use football and soccer goal. A zip line will be added. Swing sets will be replaced and basketball courts resurfaced.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, about 2,700 people live in the census tract that contains Carroll Park. A third of those people live below the poverty level. Half of residents under age 18 do. The census tract if 86% Black residents, with almost 36% of that population below the poverty level.
For Habitat executive director Tim Veeck, the park project is a departure from the typical home construction or neighborhood renovation. It’s the first such large project his group has done.
“A lot of our work we use parks as a gathering spot for when we’re working in neighborhoods,” Veeck said.
A years-long partnership with homeowners in the Crawford Road area led to discussion of the park.
“It was brought up about two years ago that Carroll Park was a place that had a high level of significance for the community,” Veeck said. “In terms of just a place for social gatherings and connection. It just had a lot of history for the folks here.”
On a given fall weeknight it’s common to have 75 or 100 kids out practicing football, Veeck said. Lindsay still recalls how he fell for basketball at the park. There is a baseball field there, too.
“Carroll Park is one of the just, kind of the jewels and assets in this community that folks really have a lot of pride in,” Veeck said.
Kavanagh said the most gratifying part of the ongoing work came when he learned there’s been discussion and desire for improvements. His company has employees who live and work in the area, which made the park worth the time for about 150 volunteers Thursday.
“The project just had every aspect of what we’re trying to accomplish here,” Kavanagh said. “Getting into the neighborhoods. This is the park, and the home renovations. This is our home.”
Though it’s an unusual project for Habitat, it fits in with the same mission to provide safe and reliable housing for people to create a better quality of life for them, Veeck said.
“The quality of their life is determined by the quality of the communities and neighborhoods in which they live,” Veeck said. “And we believe that everybody, no matter where you come from and what you look like, should have equitable and equal access to quality parks, to quality places to gather.”
Lindsay sees the project as a puzzle coming together. He fondly recalls his youth there. Memories made and time well spent with friends. He can only imagine how an improved park might serve even more families, for years to come.
“This is a great opportunity to revitalize this area, this park,” Lindsay said.
