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Elkhart renovates and reopens historic tower at High Dive Park

After closing it for safety reasons more than 25 years ago, the city of Elkhart is reopening the tower at High Dive Park after renovating it.

There will be a ribbon cutting and other offerings at the park on Saturday.

Located northwest of Beardsley Avenue and Jackson Street, Elkhart’s High Dive Park has a long and fascinating history. Entrepreneur Charlie Fieldhouse created the park in 1940 when he bought a gravel quarry and dammed Christiana Creek. He deepened the pit to 20 feet, installed a high dive, and a popular spot was born.

Fieldhouse had built a 45-foot Dutch-style windmill in the park. He sold the land to the city in 1958. In 1977 the city removed the tower’s windmill structure and added an observation deck.

By the '80s bacterial contamination ended swimming at the park, and the city closed the tower in the late '90s. Over the 2010s families started avoiding the park as they complained of trash and homeless camps there.

But on Thursday there was no visible trash or homeless encampments. Tammy Miller was there with her grandkids to show them a park she loved growing up in.

"That's exciting," Miller said of the tower renovation. "When we were kids we would spend a lot of time at High Dive Park and I was always able to go to the top. 24 hours a day you get up there to the top. Uh, girls and boys would go up to the top and just ... hang out."

That won’t be allowed any more. The tower will still be locked but parks staff will be available to give tours from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. on the first and third Sundays of each month through Labor Day.

Saturday’s grand reopening will run from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Parrott, a longtime public radio fan, comes to WVPE with about 25 years of journalism experience at newspapers in Indiana and Michigan, including 13 years at The South Bend Tribune. He and Kristi have two children currently attending Indiana University in Bloomington. In his free time he enjoys fixing up their home, following his favorite college and professional sports teams, and watching TV (yes that's an acceptable hobby).