Beverly Park celebrates 100 years

BEVERLY HILLS — On Dec. 13, 2022, Beverly Park turned 100. The village of Beverly Hills is celebrating the park’s anniversary throughout 2023 by sharing memories and stories of Beverly Park.

Parks and Recreation Board member Janice Hausman shared information about the origins of the park that is now an important part of the community.

When Beverly Park was first founded in 1922, it was actually called Dodge Brothers State Park No. 6.  During this time, the Dodge Motor Co. donated land to the state of Michigan for 11 state parks.

Because of the popularity of the automobile, the roads became very congested, and there was no place to park, as people were traveling more and more often to the lakes in Oakland County and other destinations. Dodge Motor Co. felt like they contributed to this problem by making automobiles accessible to people, so they donated these parcels of land.

Beverly Park is 34 acres, and it is the only one of those parcels not located on a river or a lake.

At some point between 1922 and 1969, the state deeded the park to Southfield Township, which eventually deeded it to the city of Beverly Hills in 1969.

“Over the years, the village has done a lot to improve the park and make it a wonderful destination for its residents,” Hausman said.

Specifically, some of the things that have been added to provide more activities for the residents include pickleball lines on the tennis court, a ping-pong table and a disc golf course. They also rebuilt the picnic pavilion to make it nicer and to add restrooms, and they are planning on redoing the playground again in the coming years.

Hausman said that they also added the manmade sledding hill in Beverly Park, which is very popular during this time of year.

While they have done some research of their own on the park’s history, the village of Beverly Hills is hoping to hear stories about the park from residents’ perspectives.

“We’re definitely looking for residents and community members to share their favorite memories of Beverly Park,” Village Clerk and Assistant City Manager Kristin Rutkowski said.

Rutkowski has been including interesting things she has found about the park’s history in the Village of Beverly Hills newsletter. For instance, in the Jan. 13 edition of the newsletter, there is a note about the Halloween Hoot event in 1998.

Anyone who has memories or stories they would like to share with the village of Beverly Hills about Beverly Park can send an email to beverlypark100@gmail.com.

Stories that are sent will be shared in future issues of the quarterly village newsletter as well as on the village website and Facebook page.