Muncie Memory Spiral invites public to walk through local history
Muncie has put a twist on telling its history at Heekin Park. As IPR’s Adele Reich reports, a new project reimagines the city’s story as a walkable spiral.
The Muncie Memory Spiral is a nature walk that includes all aspects of south Muncie’s history. It’s half the size of a football field, and the path is 800 feet long.
“That was my wife Jean’s idea to make it a spiral. My idea was a circle. She’s an artist. She immediately said, ‘It should be a spiral.’”
The development was spearheaded by Richard Ziegler and his wife Jean, along with Community Enhancement Projects, who wanted to make a monument to south Muncie’s history, and found a great place to do it.
“Heekin Park seemed to be the perfect place, because Heekin Park already has a number of other history components throughout the park. So we wanted to make Heekin Park known as Muncie’s history park.”
Historical signs line the path, starting from the present, and ending on the Native Americans and colonial settlers who first founded Muncie.
To better tell this history, Ziegler worked alongside Ball State professor Chris Flook and the Delaware County Historical Society. Flook wanted to emphasize the contributions from every population in Muncie, because the story wouldn’t be complete without them.
“The story of Muncie cannot be understood without explaining the role that African Americans played in the history. All the role that women have played. The fact that we are on indigenous land. There’s just no way around that.”
The Zieglers wanted the landscape to be different from other outdoor exhibits they had seen, and unique to Muncie. Benches were designed by Ball State landscape architecture students, and the awning has cutouts of racoon tracks, an animal native to Muncie.
“There’s a lot here. We wouldn’t necessarily expect somebody to come and take it all in on one swoop, ‘cause there’s a lot of information. It’s a journey in and of itself.”
The Muncie Memory Spiral is currently open to the public, but it will have an official opening day on August 26.
Adele Reich is part of Ball State Public Media’s Public Media Accelerator student fellowships.
