Waterview park may not be ‘Waterview Park’

DE PERE — The park at Waterview Heights subdivision won’t necessarily be named Waterview Park, as some city officials had informally referred to it.

Waterview Park would be a practical moniker that leaves no questions as to where it’s located, according to Director of Parks, Recreation, and Forestry Marty Kosobucki.

“It gives people a reference point in getting to places,” he said, citing a concern of anyone responsible for posting dozens of events each year at many of De Pere’s more than two dozen parks.

The park at Waterview Heights will be the city’s 27th park.
Waterview Heights is west of Lost Dauphin Road and east of the railroad tracks, south of Waterview Road.

De Pere Board of Park Commissioners M ember James Kneiszel asked his fellow park commissioners to put some thought into the matter.

“I’m not particularly fond of naming a park after what a developer has named a subdivision, thereby effectively letting the developer name the park,” he said, adding that as the South Bridge Connector develops, more parks will need to be named as more subdivisions spring up.

The South Bridge Connector consists of a second De Pere bridge across the Fox River, with corresponding roads from I-41 south of Scheuring Road to Monroe Road/Brown County GV.

Earlier this year, the city updated its park naming and renaming policy, stressing that parks should be named after, among other things, geologic or locational features, positive attributes or qualities (such as peace, kindness, etc.), persons of historic significance to the area or who volunteered or contributed to De Pere parks.

Kneiszel suggested as namesake Henry J. Cady, a teenager who grew up within a mile of the land that is now Waterview Heights subdivision and who died at the Siege of Vicksburg in 1863 in Mississippi during the Civil War.

Cady bled to death after being shot in the arm and died in the arms of a fellow soldier.

Kneiszel said he’s not aware of any local memorial to the boy, who signed up for the army when he was 15.

He’s buried in a Lawrence cemetery. Two of his immediate family members also died in the Civil War.

Kneiszel said that the boy soldier is local, historic in nature, and non-controversial.

He suggested it might also raise awareness that 20% of the soldiers who fought in the Civil War were under the age of 18, according to some historians.

“I ask that we continue to give this some thought,” he said.
He added that ultimately, it’s the park board’s decision.

Park Commissioner Elizabeth McMasters took a stance against naming the park Waterview Heights Park.

“I feel like a stamp of De Pere is we don’t necessarily name a park after a subdivision; most of them have been something different in some way, shape, or form,” she said. “Developers are with us for a short time; they’re not the families and people who give life to De Pere; they (families and people) are what make De Pere De Pere.”

Kneiszel asked how many of the city parks are named after people and asked Kosobucki to compile a list of parks and their namesakes for the board.

Park board member, Melissa Thiel Collar, asked that the parks department vet Cady before giving the name serious consideration.

“It’s always dangerous when you name something after someone,” she said.

Amy Chandik Kundinger asked how many of the 27 parks in De Pere were named after women.

“I am 100% sure that there are some women in De Pere who have done some cool stuff,” Chandik Kundinger said.