The Agassiz Park as Warren Manning had envisioned it was a grand public space that reflected the sort of refined urbanism that had come to exemplify the metropolitan nature of Calumet and its surrounding communities. The park was a civilized landscape that countered the wild and rugged condition of the peninsula on which it resided. It both literally and metaphorically brought order to chaos, predictability to the unpredictable, and structure to the formless. Reflecting this philosophy is the park’s distinctive use of a “spoked wheel” approach in its layout, utilizing several radial tree-lined paths that spread out from Agassiz’s statue at the mine’s entrance. Fortunately these radial paths have survived the ensuing decades intact, at least relatively.

Originally Agassiz Park was set up with five main walking paths which connected the mine entrance and Agassiz statue with each one of Calumet’s main cross streets: Scott, Portland, Oak, and Elm as well as a shorter branch running up to 4th Street. While there were other smaller paths set along the parks perimeter, these five main walkways defined the parks recreational areas. Of these five original tree-lined paths, four survive to this day in some capacity and varying degrees of completeness.

Thanks to the passage of time, those arboreal passageways are more impressive today then they had ever been in their past. At their birth, these pathways were lined with just juvenile saplings, a form that hardly inspired awe in its implantation. But over time those saplings have grown to mature trees, and their lush canopies have created a rather beautiful covered pathway – especially during the fall months. That inspired beauty is evident as we look down one of those paths from Oak Street towards what would have been the Agassiz statue – now missing.

Here’s another look at the Oak Street pathway, now from the perspective of the missing statue. I believe the concrete edge defining the path is a more recent addition and not part of the park’s original design.

Also radiating out from the old statue’s place of residence are two more tree-lined paths – more remnants of the parks original design. The particular path seen above heads northward towards what was the park’s Elm Street entrance. Originally the path would have made its way past the children’s playground as well, but today ends abruptly at a supermarket parking lot before even reaching Elm Street.

The last of the remaining radiating paths leads due west towards Portland Street, as seen in the photo above. One last radiating path would have joined this one to head southward towards Scott as well. This street would have served as the park’s main entranceway, featuring its own dirt parking area. Unfortunately both the path and connected entrance have since been obliterated by the construction of Park Ave and adjacent parking areas.

In addition to the three main radial pathways, there are also signs of an additional curved pathway connecting all three remaining radial paths together. Originally all three of these paths would have met up at the Agassiz statue itself, but with the statue’s old home now laying in the middle of a parking lot those radial paths were left orphaned. This curved pathway was probably added after the statue was removed, in an attempt to make the three paths whole again.

Because of that curved pathway, all three of the radial paths now meet up here in a spot that sits just a few feet from the nearby road. To the left would have been the Agassiz statue with the Oak Street path heading off to the right. The top path leads to the Portland walkway while the bottom one takes you back to the Elm Street walking path.

Though not a main radial path, there is one more remaining tree-lined pathway still existing from the park’s original layout. At the north-west corner of the park the Elm Street walking path originally split in two, with one path continuing on towards the corner and another branching off due north towards 4th Street. These two paths were designed to envelope the park’s proposed playground, which would have been primarily located within the triangle area they formed. Today that playground are is now home to the parking lot seen above. While the remaining length of the Elm Street walkway no longer exists, the northern branch towards 4th street does – though it no longer serves as a walking path.

Today that walking path has become a narrow alleyway that makes its way behind a supermarket. A line of trees still marks the route on the eastern flank. In the photo above you can also make out the concrete curbs from the old path as they make their way out to the parking lot and towards the alleyway.

Before moving on we notice on more pathway, one that is most likely a later addition. While it has no complimentary tree-lines, it does feature the same concrete border we’ve seen in all the other pathways. This particular path sits along the north end of the space traditionally occupied by the parks collection of tennis courts. Today it simply dead ends at the village’s parking lot. I would guess that it was also a later addition, probably put in when the parking lot was put down.

To Be Continued…