History
Ann Arbor's city parks sit on the ancestral and traditional homelands of several indigenous Native peoples. Read a
land acknowledgement from the city and learn more about the early history of the land
here.
The strip of land that became Placid Way Park was originally intended to be a road. The road project was successfully lobbied against by neighborhood residents, and then the land was given to the city after the developer paved a path through it in 1992. That same year Teresa Walsh and Alicia Zarbo, residents of the two neighborhood subdivisions, successfully launched a campaign to get the area turned into a park for children. The city agreed to match funds raised by the neighborhood residents as long as they reached their goal of $12,500, for the purposes of constructing a playground and creating the park. See a
1992 article from the Ann Arbor News about the campaign to create Placid Way Park. The fundraising campaign was successful and the park was dedicated in 1993. A
plaque at the park commemorates the effort to create the park and the local businesses that contributed to it.
