Motoring Monday: Riverside Park

The overlook at Riverside Park

This Motoring Monday feature is a few days early as next Monday is July 4, a state holiday.

Riverside Park is located on the northeast edge of Oswego. It is an 80-acre park along a bluff that overlooks the historic Neosho Crossing and the Neosho River. The park includes the Labette County fairgrounds, an RV park, swimming pool, ball fields, a 10,000-square foot community center, shelters, gardens, tennis courts, and an observation point with spectacular views of the Neosho River Valley from the 100-foot bluff.

 The land along the bluff was purchased for the park in about 1885 by a group of local women who raised the money to pay for it by conducting food sales and ice cream socials. Many of the structures in the current park were developed and built with the help of New Deal programs during the Great Depression. 

Riverside Park was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in July 2012. For more information on the park, click here.