Hughes Park opens in southwest Cedar Rapids on original Hughes Nursery land

CEDAR RAPIDS — Dwight Hughes Jr. clearly remembers the brick house on Wilson Avenue SW where he grew up, next to the 10 acres of land where his Welsh grandfather established the family nursery business over a century ago.

As if transported back in time, the self-described “old Iowa farm boy” gestured to a pile of rocks that now sits where a windmill once stood. To the right was an office long ago. Parking spaces now fill the area where there was a storage facility, and a tree grows in a spot that a horse barn used to occupy. The road out front was a gravel one decades ago.

“This is home,” Hughes said.

At age 73, he is essentially a living Hughes family history book. He speaks of his ancestors with reverence, rattling off facts about the Hughes’ beginnings in the U.S. as if he lived the experience himself.

Growing up, Hughes said he followed his father, Dwight Sr., around the nursery “like a shadow,” allowing his own passion to bloom.

As he’s aged, his thoughts turned to preserving the land that represents his family’s work ethic and drive to start anew in the U.S. The last family members living on the original property died early this century. In the years after, Hughes began to craft a vision to turn seven acres of this land into a city park.

Through a public-private partnership with the city of Cedar Rapids, Hughes’ vision has come to life. After years of planning, Hughes Park, 2100 Wilson Ave. SW, is ready to be shared with the public.

The nearly $1.65 million park serves as a conservation area filled with snippets of Hughes family history. Located in a part of town with little green space, the park offers nature-based passive and active recreational amenities and ultimately aims to attract people from around Cedar Rapids and beyond.

The park’s creation is in line with Hughes’ personal motto, delivered with a twinkle in his brown eyes: “It’s a lot more fun to share it than to have it.”

What mattered to Hughes was that this historic land had perpetual maintenance.

“They don't sell parks. They don't take them away. They take care of them,” Hughes said. “Cedar Rapids has a history … I know they're going to take care of this. I can't. I could be gone tomorrow.”

Ribbon cutting

When: 10 a.m. Sept. 9

Where: Hughes Park, 2100 Wilson Ave. SW

Family business began here

William John Hughes, an immigrant from Wales, established the nursery in 1908 on the outskirts of Cedar Rapids.

The rural area transformed as Cedar Rapids grew, with commercial development approaching the north nursery boundary and residential development springing up on the east and west sides of the Hughes’ land.

As Wilson Avenue became a major thoroughfare, the nursery field and landscape operation facilities were relocated southwest of town in the 1970s. Today, Hughes Nursery and Landscaping encompasses 150 acres and is run by the fourth generation of Hughes children — with some help from Dwight Hughes Jr.’s grandchildren, who make up the fifth generation.

Several years ago, Hughes contacted City Manager Jeff Pomeranz with a vision for the park with the support of City Council member Justin Shields, then the District 5 representative.

“It was his dream, his vision that this wasn't just a subdivision, but it was something unique and special, for today and for future generations in Cedar Rapids,” Pomeranz said. “ … He pushed all of us to really make this very unique piece of property the best that it could be for the community.”

The park was initially planned with 100 mature trees, each over 100 years old, as part of the landscape. But then the August 2020 derecho battered Cedar Rapids, toppling the trees — what Hughes considered the foundation of the park — with hurricane-force winds.

“I wanted it to be a park because of the trees,” Hughes said. “Then Mother Nature played a trick on me … There were lines of them that grandpa had planted for windbreaks, growing small trees, and we basically lost them all.”

That didn’t deter Hughes from working with the city to build the park.

His sons, Tom and John, donated 58 trees from the nursery to the park this spring, beginning to offset some of the losses. Hughes comes to the park at least twice a week to water the newly planted trees.

It’s unusual for donors to stay highly engaged in a project for years, city staff said, but Hughes’ involvement was key to shaping the end result, in addition to public input. The family’s guidance helped bring forward the history of this land while also welcoming the next generation coming up behind them.

“The community came together, helped us refine the vision, and I think we've really come up with something with Dwight's constant guidance that is unique … for Cedar Rapids but also for the state of Iowa,” Pomeranz said.

To support the park’s establishment, the Parks and Recreation Department received $489,000 from Iowa’s Resource Enhancement and Protection program, commonly referred to as REAP. The program invests in projects that enhance and protect Iowa’s natural and cultural resources.

Part of the state award allowed the city to acquire the seven acres in 2016. Hughes contributed about $447,000 and there was $4,000 in other miscellaneous donations, according to the city. Cedar Rapids’ cost share is $705,000.

The last city park to open was Greene Square in 2016, according to the city, after its renovation.

“It's definitely one of a kind being a nature-based park — a great addition to our inventory to really be at one with nature but still have an opportunity to recreate as well,” Parks and Recreation Director Hashim Taylor said of Hughes Park.

‘Sharing’ with citizens

The park contains features that incorporate nature and honor the Hughes family.

A short walk from the park’s entrance on Wilson Avenue SW, a life-size metal Percheron horse sculpture stands tall atop a rocky display, pulling Hughes’ grandfather’s original walking cultivator used by three generations to cultivate field-grown nursery stock. It represents the draft horses used in the original nursery.

Ottumwa artist Steve Huffman created and designed the horse with Hughes’ input, reflecting the family’s humble beginnings here.

“The power, the resilience, the stability of the draft horse, and to be able to have that to pull through the five generations … it was a symbol that I could grab a hold of that was unique,” Hughes said.

City officials said this piece of art is a focal point that can’t be found anywhere else.

“People from all over are going to come to look at the horse and be at that park,” Taylor said. “It's one-of-a-kind. It's definitely going to be a tourism component to our park system that people from all over the states, even in Iowa, will come to visit.”

Toward the front, there’s an athletic field with a fence where people can play sports such as baseball, softball, soccer or Frisbee. There also are two half-court basketball courts, which can be flooded in the winter to offer a venue for snowshoeing, ice skating and other ice-based activities.

Near the courts is a pavilion with wooden panels underneath that the public will be able to rent starting next year. It seats approximately 36 people.

Other features include unisex restrooms, mowed and concrete trails, a grill, bike stands, a birding area, an outdoor education center, three large kids’ play structures and benches — some made to look like logs. All amenities are accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“My whole deal is sharing this with as many people as possible, letting the citizenry know that it's here and enjoy it,” Hughes said. “It's got nothing to do with me. It's about this is a Cedar Rapids park, a city park. We're all fortunate that it’s here.”

‘Folks will take care of it’

Hughes is meticulous, with a precise vision for the park as it stands today and how it will change years from now. He’s taken steps to bring the land closer to its roots — the way it was when his family found it, before new development sprang up.

On one side, Hughes said six Norway spruce trees will grow tall and shield two houses from view.

“When you're here in the park, it'll almost feel like you're in the country,” Hughes said.

And by the outdoor education center, Hughes planted two hackberry trees — a fast-growing native species.

“In 15 years, they ought to almost be touching, and so this will be shaded when the school bus kids are (waiting),” Hughes said.

There’s no way of knowing what will happen in the future, Hughes said, but he plans as best as he can.

“I’m old. I won't be here much longer,” he said. “The property will be here. I just have to have good confidence that folks will take care of it. It won't be exactly the way I want it, and that's OK, too. But it'll be here.”

As he turned to leave the park, he looked in the distance while a boy hopped off his bike, ran from the trail and climbed onto a play structure.

“Look at these kids,” Hughes said softly, his eyes beginning to water. “See that, that just brings — wow. How neat is that? And then they come in and shoot baskets. Get your skates sharpened, boys.”

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