Nelson Ludington, namesake of Ludington Park, is considered the founder of Escanaba. He had lumber interests all around the Great Lakes, including a sawmill on Sand Point.
Learning that iron mining interests in Marquette needed a Lake Michigan port, in 1863 Ludington commissioned surveyor E.P. Royce to lay out the city that Ludington named Escanaba.
When Ludington’s wife Charlotte bequeathed what is now Ludington Park to the city upon her death in 1906, it was on the condition that what had been called “city park” be renamed “Ludington Park.”
The name change took effect in August,1914. The park was originally platted for residential lots, but only one home was ever built there (near the Karas bandshell) and that was purchased by the city and razed in 1934. After World War II, the park’s size was dramatically increased by extensive dredging.
A new water filtration plant was built on an expanded Sand Point, a marina was added, and an island was constructed (now called Aronson Island) to house a new bathing beach.
When driving along Loren Jenkins Drive, you are on the park’s original shoreline.
