Detroit officials celebrate renovated Roosevelt Park in Corktown

Roosevelt Park reopened earlier this week following major renovations with $6 million in funding provided in part from the American Rescue Plan Act.

The park that once welcomed travelers arriving by train at the Michigan Central station roughly a century ago is now ready for a new audience.

Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan says there were two differing visions for the area. 

“Should you just have a boulevard to get you in and out of the train station…or should you build a park? And in typical political fashion they compromised…and we had roads running through some grass that had to be the ugliest park in the city of Detroit,” said Duggan. 

Duggan and other Democratic officials were quick to point out that the majority of the park improvements were paid for by from the Biden Administration’s American Rescue Plan Act, which is funding designed to help cities deal with the economic fallout from the pandemic. 

Detroit Congressional and Biden Administration officials unveiled a refurbished park, calling it a symbol of the city’s economic recovery. 

The park was named after the late President Teddy Roosevelt and was constructed in 1919, shortly after the completion of the Michigan Central station.

Michigan’s U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow says the refurbished park is now a safe and family-friendly destination. 

“A space that unites three historic neighborhoods — and it’s once again a beautiful front yard for one of our city’s most iconic buildings,” said Stabenow. 

The updated Roosevelt Park joins Ford’s effort to turn the Michigan Central station and some of the surrounding Corktown neighborhood into what the company calls a “hub for the future of transportation.”