The story behind Allen Park twists and turns throughout the last century or so, and is rich in fowl…read moreand folklore. Allen was a physician, and he had a nice chunk of property here that was, at one point, open to the public every Sunday.
He had built quite the property, and with a great love for birds, much of the decor was avian-themed, with actual live birds on the property. He also, at some point, had an elephant, orangutan, and other exotic animals. In his later years, he would create many tile mosaics around the property that still remain today.
Over the last few decades, however, long after Mr. Allen was gone, the property was closed to the public. Urban legends started to creep up about the property, and the name "Hobbitville" was whispered to high school kids who would dare each other to enter to see the small houses made for a development dedicated to little people. Or so the stories go.
The many residences and duplexes over time fell into disrepair and were shuttered, and development seemed imminent. However, SLC stepped in to purchase the property and create Allen Park.
If you go today (and I did) you'll see the beginnings of a park. It's a property that spans two blocks, and the old structures still stand. Some of them are in such disrepair, that they will certainly be leveled. Others seem to have been inhabited until recently. A few sit across Emigration Creek, which runs lazily through the property, with bridges to access them. Near the end of the property are the duplexes.
The farther you go, the more mosaics, quotes, poems, and art you'll see. It's a hodge podge of tile work; it's a little weird, a little lovely, and entirely perfect. It's what this city needs.
They have been cleaning and clearing (and someone has been weeding at one of the duplexes?) but let's be very clear--there's a lot of work to be done. The front has been cleared, and you can see the old cement basins where pools were. The buildings are boarded up. There's a chain link fence around the entirety that keeps you from accessing any of these areas, and it spans the whole park. This is the beginning of something. This is the beginning of what Allen Park might be, but it's bee derelict a while and it will need massive amounts of work and money.
What will it become? That's the question. A public-private partnership where the properties are renovated and turned into rentals? A reception center? A city office? There are good and bad ideas out there, and they will certainly be entertaining them all.
If you go (and it's so weird and wonderful, you should!) just recognize that there's not parking here and you really shouldn't park on 1300 E, so pick a side street and know you'll have to walk. Enjoy the stroll through the mosaics, read the placards, sit beneath the trees, say hi to the peafowl that inhabit the property (yes, really) and savor a small strip of land in the middle of the city that's been saved to be something special.