Prospect Park (Ypsilanti, Michigan)

The land that is today called Prospect Park began as Prospect Cemetery, Ypsilanti's second cemetery, in 1842. In 1864, Highland Cemetery opened just 1/2 mile away, and the use of Prospect Cemetery declined sharply. Beginning in 1891, a group of local women raised funds to move the bodies — around 250 — to Highland Cemetery and transform Prospect Cemetery into Prospect Park, complete with a lake (Luna Lake) with a fountain, a bandstand, and a dance pavilion.[2] A coastal defense cannon was added in 1902,[3] and the park underwent a noteworthy restoration in the early 1980s.[2]

The park made international headlines in 2013 and 2014 after a series of pranks in which a person repeatedly defecated on the same playground slide over a several month period.[4]

Located near the northeast corner of Ypsilanti, Prospect Park is bounded on the south by East Cross Street, on the west by North Prospect Road, on the north by Oak Street, and on the east by a row of houses which face Charles Street. The park has a small parking lot off East Cross Street, in the southeast corner of the park, next to The Bible Church.

Prospect Park has many features including a cannon, basketball courts, a baseball field, a large area of open land used as a football field, many types of playground equipment, a dance pavilion, and a Bandstand. Other features include grills and picnic tables, and a small lake called Luna Lake. It also has a small community made skateboarding park.

Adams is an elementary school in the Ypsilanti Public School District located adjacent to Prospect Park. The school was originally named Prospect Elementary School in the early 1900s. In 1963, the school was renamed in honor of Olive M. Adams who was the principal there for many years. Students from the school use the park playground equipment at recess. There are two major sets of playground equipment, including many slides, a few sets of monkey bars, ropes to walk on, and balance beams.