Georgia Hanford Park
Where is Georgia Hanford Park?
63.26 acres
Georgia Hanford Park, established due to a gift by the Margaret and Hanford MacNider family. The park was given in portions over a three-year period from 1963-1965 and is on the southeast side of Mason City. The park contains 59.73 acres of land.
The Arthur J. Gerk Arboretum is located within the park The Arboretum is 39 acres and has 1.6 miles of winding, paved pathways.
Georgia Hanford Park Amenities:
baby swing, ball field, basketball, charcoal grills, fishing, fitness equipment, open space, parking lot, picnic tables, playground, restrooms, shelter, sledding hill, trails, volleyball, walking path
Georgia Hanford Park is located on the southeast side of Mason City, containing 59.73 acres of parkland. It was gifted by the MacNider family and established as a park in 1963. A portion of this park was still farmed up until 1990. Mason Creek traverses the park creating two man-made ponds. The park has two main entrances, South Pennsylvania Avenue and South Georgia Avenue.
The park features 1.26 miles of walking trail, volleyball, basketball, a baseball diamond, playground equipment and a large shelter house complete with electricity, water and restrooms. The baseball diamond was installed in 1971. A federal Land and Water Conservation grant was received for improvements such as a shelter, bypass channel and a manmade pond in 1972. ISU planned an arboretum and 39 acres went into the CRP program 1988 to 1990. A REAP grant was received for improvements such as the trail system, parking lot and prairie grass in 1995. The arboretum was named in honor of Arthur J. Gerk for all the work and dedication he gave to the park and his family created the Art Gerk Foundation in 2000 which stills funds and looks over the trees in the arboretum. The Arthur J. Gerk Arboretum is one of Mason City’s premier parks which contains numerous tree species, prairie flowers and is a walk through style arboretum set in rolling farmland.
