An Outstanding Overview,
A City Refuge For Rest, Recreation, & Roses.
It's The World-Famous:
A Feature Pictorial Of
The
Lockport Home Page: www.Lockport-NY.com
Welcome to Outwater Park, Lockport's premier parkland. New York City has Central Park, Buffalo has Delaware Park and Lockport has, thanks to generosity of Dr. Samuel Outwater, this scenic treasure on the city's north end, near the top of the Niagara Escarpment. In the picture below, the camera is looking east into a portion of the 48-acre park along Outwater Park Drive. To the immediate left is the scenic escarpment overlook, playgrounds for children, and lots of room for walking dogs. To the immediate right are courts of horse shoe pitching, Bocce, and Bowling -on-the-Green.
Magnificent Outwater Park provides a multitude of service to the city. Below is pictured the municipal water tower which provides storage for the city's incoming water supply. Water is pumped here from the Niagara River where it is stored so that peak demand can always be met. This is a huge water tower! It is surrounded by a field of park greenery. Here are areas for "Bowling On The Green," horse-shoe pitching, and Bocce Courts. Further out from the tower to the lower right is the park's enclosed pavilion. Along the grass a man with a metal detector hunts for lost valuables.
It attracts thousands from all over Eastern Niagara County each summer. It's a first-rate outdoor facility with sections for the little folks as well as those who wish to do some serious diving. In the background that's North Park Middle School which enjoys the convenience (and cost-savings) of having Outwater Park sport fields and recreational facilities available for student use. The tower is that of the local cable TV operation, used for picking up broadcasts from area TV stations and re-transmitting over the cable system that serves the city. Since the area is on high ground, those antennae up on the tower can pick up broadcast quality clear signals from over 100 miles away.
This magnificent blue spruce was a project of the Lockport Kiwanis Club in the
bicentennial year, 1976.
A plaque at its base marks the installation as May 1976 and notes the bicentennial nature of the event with the inscription:
Bicentennial Tree
May 1976
1776-1976
GOD BLESS AMERICA
The tree is located near the east end of the park, just south of the rose gardens and east of popular picnic areas.
Dr. Samuel Outwater (1868-1953) was the successful Lockport physician who donated to the city the land for the present Outwater Memorial Park plus money and revenue producing local real estate property to fund its maintenance and expansion. He was a descendant of Captain John Outwater who lead troops in the American Revolution. The Outwater family home at 215 Niagara Street was given to the Niagara County Historical Society for use as a museum plus a fund to expand and maintain it. He retired to sunny California and died there at the age of 95.Not shown in our pictorial are numerous sporting fields for baseball, football, and tennis. Large expanses of land with picnic tables. Limited flower gardens, memorials, walking trails, outdoor shelters, and playgrounds. Although Dr. Outwater left adequate funding that, if invested properly, would have paid for "forever" maintenance of the park, the city was tempted to dip into these funds over the years until they were all used up. Nowadays, the park suffers from a definite lack of maintenance. The city needs financial help from Niagara County to bring this great asset back to full glory. Inasmuch as more than half the visitors each year are from outside the city, it would seem that County funding would be a natural. But it has not yet happened.
For many decades the Outwater Park Rose Garden was the signature beauty attraction of Outwater Park. Then, neglect by the city Street and Parks Department combined with vandalism took a toll. As the 21st Century appeared community groups began an intensive effort to restore the rose garden to its former prominence. There has been great success. The roses are back and so are the visitors.
"I haven't much time to be fond of anything," says
Sergeant Cuff. "But when I have a moment's fondness to bestow, most times . . . the
roses get it."
----The
Moonstone [1868], First Period, ch. 12
For More Lockport Roses Visit Tribute Park
The camera is looking northwest and if we didn't have the wide angle on, you'd be seeing the outline of the Toronto, Ontario skyline just a little to the left of center in the picture. On clear days the view to Lake Ontario and further north to Canada is dramatic. On moonlit nights...the parking area here, the walks, and the views of flickering lights over the escarpment produce a residence for romance unequaled anywhere on the Niagara Frontier!
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