A special presentation was made Tuesday night during the Plymouth Park Board meeting.
Bob and Don Price, the nephews of Ray Price who founded Price’s Nursery and eventually Prices Pond came before the Park Board to make the donation of Prices Memorial Park to the Plymouth Park Department.
Bob Price said gave a brief history of his uncle Ray Price. He worked at Studebaker for 25 years and in 1927 started selling trees and bushes on a street corner in South Bend with the beginning of Price’s Nursery. In 1946 he purchase the whole corner at North Michigan and Plymouth Goshen Trail…from Ponderosa on the north to CVS on the south with the exception of the ground where TCU currently sits and started Price Nursery in Plymouth. He paid $9,000 for the 25 acres.
Over the years there have been several different park managers including Joe and Debbie Simanski, Ken and Barb Miller and Tom and LeAnn Chamberlin from 2000 to 2013.
Bob Price said, “Next March I turn 80 years old. Looking after this park has been a labor of love but it’s time.”
Plymouth Park Board President Dave Morrow said, “I can’t think of a better addition to our park system than Prices Park, a mainstay in this community for many many years.” He said, “A lot of kids have learned how to swim in that pond out there. There’s been a lot of picnics, weddings, fish caught…you name it.” Morrow said the private park has been an asset to the community.
The Plymouth Park Board unanimously passed a motion to accept the donation of Prices Memorial Park into the Park System. City attorney Sean Surrisi and Price’s attorney Jim Clevenger will finalize the legalities of the donation.
Park Board President Dave Morrow said, “The name of the park will not change, it will also be known as Price’s Memorial Park.”
