Executive Summary

Site Context

St. Louis Park is an existing, 6.4-acre park in the Centralville neighborhood of Lowell, Massachusetts, a mill city of 120,000 that has attracted wave upon wave of immigrants since the Industrial Revolution. Sometimes referred to as “the park behind Top Donut,” St. Louis Park is tucked away and the entrances are not easily identifiable, leaving most locals unaware that it exists despite it being the only open space within a 10-minute walk for many neighborhood residents.

VFW Highway separates St. Louis Park from Riverview Park, a 7.4-acre strip of public riverfront land upon which an expansion of the park is planned. The soil on the site is known to be contaminated. It also occupies an embankment which is part of a levy system that protects Centralville residents from flooding.

Together, the two pieces of land are referred to as “Saint Louis Sponge Park,” a nod to the City’s ambition to incorporate flood resilience into the design of the planned park. Riverview and St. Louis Park are not just important sites locally; they are situated in a critical location regionally. Riverview Park is directly adjacent to the Merrimack River, which is 117 miles long and drains a 5,000 square mile watershed sustaining 2.5 million people and supplying drinking water to over 600,000 people in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The site is located in a designated environmental justice area. Sixty-six percent of residents identify as non-white, and 32% experience language isolation. The median household gets by on $50,000.

The community around the site has experienced a long history of environmental injustice dating back to 1870 when a new water main delivered raw drinking water from the Merrimack River to homes in Pawtucketville and Centralville, leading to a devastating cholera outbreak. In 1936, a major flood that caused damage to numerous homes and businesses around Saint Louis Park spurred the Army Core of Engineers to build a flood levy along the north bank of the river. In the 1950s, MassDOT built the VFW highway which undermined the flood protection system. In 2006, the “Mother’s Day Flood” inundated the community again and 2 years later, prompting the levy system to be decertified, and burdening neighborhood residents with the cost of paying for extensive flood insurance for over a decade until the levy system was re-certified in 2019. The neighborhood surrounding Saint Louis Park continues to face ongoing environmental injustices today as a result of continued inland flooding and urban heat island effect.

Community Engagement

From the beginning, the City of Lowell centered community voice in the design process. It established a set of four principles for engaging the community: inclusive, accessible, educational, and meaningful. These principles were realized through six primary methods for engagement community.

First, community liaisons were hired to spread the word to informal networks. Adriana, Alessandra, Carla, Jasmine, and Levi were hired for their standing as local community leaders and fluent speakers of Spanish, Portuguese, and Khmer, collectively. They gathered community input in cultural spaces that were beyond the reach of City government.

Second, four block party-style events were held at the Sponge Park. Attendees enjoyed free food and live music while reviewing design ideas and providing feedback. Guided tours of the Riverview side of the site introduced many neighbors to the riverfront.

Third, a bespoke website and social media campaign gave community members an opportunity to engagement with the project digitally and on their own time.

Fourth, a survey was conducted to ascertain the community’s aspirations, priorities, concerns, and other feedback. It was highly successful at reaching underrepresented groups, including English as a Second or Other Language speakers (62% of respondents) and teens (17% of respondents).

Fifth, physical postcards and flyers were distributed throughout Centralville and parts of Lowell in a canvassing campaign led by the community liaisons.

Sixth and lastly, a series of focus groups were conducted with specific stakeholders: youth, the disability community, maintenance staff, and others.

These community engagement methods can be measured in numbers. Altogether 5,600 comments were gathered! However, as the following pages of this report will reveal, there was an unquantifiable value in the compassionate and creative way in which the community was invited to the table to co-design the Saint Louis Sponge Park.

Next Steps

The realization of the Sponge Park is a phased endeavor. At the writing of this report in July 2026, the first phase of work was opening to the public. A new playground and splash pad, and heat-reflecting basketball courts were some of the amenities being newly-enjoyed.

Up next, the City will turn its attention to permitting and constructing features on the Saint Louis side of the park, remediation of the Riverside parcel, and finally construction of the Riverside park features.

It may be a winding path to the full buildout of the park, but the excitement generated through the community engagement around this project will surely see it through.