Cascades Park (Tallahassee)

Infobox nrhp
name = Cascades Park


caption =
locator_x = 215
locator_y = 147
location = Tallahassee, Florida
area =
added = May 12, 1971
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
governing_body =

Cascades Park is a 12 acrecite news |author = Florida Department of Environmental Protection |title = State Deeds Downtown Tallahassee Park to City |url = http://www.dep.state.fl.us/secretary/Post/2005/0211.htm |work = The Post |date = 2005-02-11 |accessdate = 2006-08-25] park along the stream known as the St. Augustine Branch in Tallahassee, Florida, south of the Florida State Capitol. It is a Nationally Registered Historic Place [cite web| url = http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/fl/Leon/state.html| title = Florida — Leon County| accessdate = 2006-08-25| work = National Register of Historic Places] because it influenced the territorial government's choice of the capital city's location.

As of 2006, most of the park is closed to the public because of soil and water contamination by coal tar released by a manufactured gas plant.cite web| url = http://www.talgov.com/communications/pdf/cascades_faq2.pdf| title = Frequently Asked Questions| accessdate = 2006-08-25| author = City of Tallahassee| format = PDF| work = Cascades Park Remediation Project]

History

In 1821, Spain ceded Florida to the United States. A territorial government was established, but the two largest cities, Pensacola and St. Augustine, were too far east and west, respectively, for either to make a good permanent capital. Territorial governor William Pope Duval appointed two commissioners, one from Pensacola and one from St. Augustine, to choose a location roughly halfway between them to build the new capital. When they saw a beautiful waterfall in what is now Cascades Park, they chose a nearby hill as the location for the future city of Tallahassee.

John Lee Williams, the commissioner from Pensacola, wrote of the waterfall: [Quoted in cite book |last=Hauserman |first=Julie |title=Between Two Rivers: Stories from the Red Hills to the Gulf |url=http://www.redhillswritersproject.org/ |accessdate=2006-08-25 |date=2004-08-28 |publisher= |location= |language= |id=ISBN 0-9759339-0-6 |pages=157–159 |chapter=Florida's Lost Waterfall: Cascades Park |chapterurl=http://www.redhillswritersproject.org/images/BTR_Sample.pdf]

The Florida State Capital now stands where this waterfall and pond once were. The area was used as a meeting place back in the earlier portion of the 1800s, for hunters, travelers, etc. During the early 1900s, it was home to Centennial Field, formerly used to play minor league baseball and football, as well as a Korean War memorial. In 1971, Governor Reubin Askew and the Florida Cabinet recognized the park’s significance in a resolution.

Contamination

The city operated a manufactured gas plant in the southwest of the park from 1895 to the late 1950s, when they switched to natural gas and propane.cite web| url = http://www.epa.gov/Region4/waste/npl/nplfln/cascade.pdf| title = Cascade Park Gasification Plant/Cascade Landfill Removal Action Memorandum| accessdate = 2006-08-25| author = Environmental Protection Agency| authorlink = United States Environmental Protection Agency| year = 2002| month = March| format = PDF] As part of its normal operation, the MGP produced coal tar which was not valuable enough to be sold or reused, so it was simply discarded. Potentially harmful components of this coal tar, in particular polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes), have been detected in the soil and groundwater. A downward hydraulic gradient prevents the contaminants from spreading, but at the site itself, there is "a current or potential threat to public health and the environment".

In addition, a landfill on the southern edge of the park was used to dispose of municipal solid waste. [cite web| url = http://www.talgov.com/communications/pdf/cascades_epa.pdf| title = Sites in Reuse: Cascade Park Gasification Plant Superfund Site| accessdate = 2006-08-25| author = Environmental Protection Agency| year = 2005| month = December| format = PDF] The landfill was originally indended for biodegradable lawn waste such as tree limbs, but later it was reportedly used for other trash including construction and automobile waste and ash from the city incinerator on the east side of the park.

Remediation project

In September 2005, the city made an agreement with WRS Infrastructure & Environment to clean up the site for $7.8 million. [cite press release
publisher=City of Tallahassee
date=2005-09-26
url=http://www.talgov.com/communications/newsdetail.cfm?id=215
title=City Reaches Agreement on Cascades Park Cleanup
accessdate=2006-08-25 ] The plans are to excavate over 70,000 tonscite web| url = http://www.talgov.com/communications/pdf/cascades_faq.pdf| title = Cascades Park Clean Up: Get The Facts| accessdate = 2006-08-25| author = City of Tallahassee| format = PDF| publisher = WRS Infrastructure & Environment] of contaminated soil and transport it to an EPA-approved landfill in Valdosta, Georgia, to remove three inches (76 mm) of sediment from convert|950|ft|m of the stream and install a protective liner,, and to place a clay cap over 5,750 square yards of the landfill.

The project is currently reported to be ahead of schedule, and completion is expected by the end of October. [cite web| url = http://www.talgov.com/communications/pdf/cascades_news6.pdf| title = Cascades Park Remediation Bulletin| accessdate = 2006-08-26| author = City of Tallahassee| date = 2006-08-17| format = PDF] When complete, the park will have an amphitheater, a baseball field, historic building renovations, and open green space for trails and community gatherings.
:"Also see Capital Cascade Greenway."

References and external links

* [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/FL/Leon/state.html Leon County listings] at [http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com National Register of Historic Places]
* [http://www.flheritage.com Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs]
** [http://www.flheritage.com/facts/reports/places/index.cfm?fuseaction=ListAreas&county=leon Leon County listings]
** [http://www.flheritage.com/services/sites/fht/record_t.cfm?ID=418&type=c&index=37 Cascades Park]