MANCHESTER, NH — One of the city’s most beloved and photographed parks – Pretty Park, aka Wagner Park – will undergo a significant multi-year restoration effort beginning next spring.
The $300,000 donation from the Edward Wagner and George Hosser Scholarship Fund to the Wagner Memorial Park Board of Trustees was announced during an open house for the park, held July 18 at Mt. Carmel Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. The money will be used to finance much-needed park rehabilitation efforts.
Wagner Memorial Park was constructed 75 years ago at the bequest of Ottilie Wagner, whose home once stood on the property bounded by Maple, Myrtle, Oak, and Prospect streets. It was the desire of Mrs. Wagner that no City funds would be used for construction or maintenance of the park. To that end she created a trust fund, administered by three park trustees, who have overseen the maintenance activities over the years.
However, with dwindling returns on the fund’s principal, combined with increased costs of park maintenance and the presence of many aging park components, the need for a park overhaul was clear. The donation from the scholarship fund — which was also established by Mrs. Wagner and provides for use of those funds for the park when necessary — will provide the means to accomplish this goal.
Local landscape architect Kerry Schleyer has been employed to design the improvements which will include replacement plantings park wide, starting behind the iconic domed memorial. Additionally, new pathways will be created, and both irrigation and lighting systems will be upgraded. Work will proceed over two years and is set to begin in the spring of 2017.
