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Concept
Byrd Park
Summary
Byrd Park, also known as William Byrd Park, is a public park located in Richmond, Virginia, United States, north of the James River and adjacent to Maymont. The park includes a mile-long trail with exercise stops, monuments, an amphitheatre, and three small lakes: Shields (sometimes spelled Sheilds), Swan, and Boat Lake. Boat Lake (also called Fountain Lake) has a lighted fountain at its center. Visitors can rent pedal boats there in season. The park includes tennis courts, Little League baseball fields, and a children's playground. The historic round house and Poplar Vale Cemetery are also located in the park. It is named after William Byrd II, whose family owned much of the area when Richmond was founded in 1737. The park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016.
In 1873, the city of Richmond began the creation of a new municipal waterworks system, in order to replace an earlier one which had become insufficient for the growing city. In 1874, a site was chosen upriver to the west of the city, and from 1875 to 1888, the land was acquired and the reservoir constructed. The pit used for building up the earthen berms became what is now Fountain Lake, itself fed by the reservoir. In 1884, the New Pump-House was completed at the base of the hill, drawing water from the defunct James River and Kanawha Canal and pumping it up to the reservoir. The large tract of parkland surrounding the reservoir was descriptively named New Reservoir Park, with the equally aptly named Boulevard serving to house the water main leading from the reservoir to the thoroughfare of Broad Street, simultaneously providing access to the park.
By 1907, the park had been renamed William Byrd Park, and by 1914 plans had begun for the construction of two additional lakes: Shield's Lake and Swann Lake.
The park's Statue of Christopher Columbus, erected in 1927, was controversial at the time of its construction because it honored Italian-Americans in a climate of increasing anti-immigration sentiment.
Official source
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