There is a place in southern Indiana that some call “the Oasis of the Midwest”. It is a small plot of land located at the corner of Dunn St. and Kirkwood Ave. in a growing college town called Bloomington. Today the park is more of a graveyard for memories, as the town that was at one time a flowering community of artist, poets, musicians, activist and hippies is being consumed by corporate America. The charming and locally owned shops and cafes that had at one time lined Kirkwood have now been replaced by fast food franchises, townhouse apartments, and trendy clothing stores. But, in the not so distant past, Bloomington, IN. was a political hot spot of social change and if you were a hippie or a punk or a radical or just a traveler passing through the area, everyone knew that the small patch of land that the locals call Peoples Park was the place to be.
“Peoples Park is on the west coast” some of you might say, and you would be right. Let’s have a little history lesson for those of you who may not know about Peoples Park. To begin the lesson we must take our thoughts away from the Midwestern United States and think of going west to sunny California.
People's Park in Berkeley, California, USA is a park off Telegraph Avenue, bounded by Haste and Bowditch Streets and Dwight Way, near the University of California, Berkeley. The park was created during the radical political activism of the late 1960s. Today it serves mainly as a daytime sanctuary for Berkeley's large homeless population who take advantage of meals offered by East Bay Food Not Bombs. Some students make regular use of the basketball courts, and a wider audience is attracted by occasional concerts held at the performance stage. Beyond the homeless, few Berkeley residents use the community garden or other facilities.
The mythology surrounding the park is an important part of local culture. The surrounding South Campus neighborhood was the scene of a major confrontation between student protestors and law enforcement during May, 1969. A mural near the park, painted by Berkeley artist and lawyer Osha Neumann, depicts the shooting of James Rector, a student who died from shotgun wounds inflicted by law enforcement on May 15, 1969.
Origin of the park
In 1956 the Regents of the University of California earmarked a 2.8-acre (11,000 m2) plot of land containing residences for future development into student housing, parking and offices as part of the University's "Long Range Plan for Expansion." At the time funds were lacking to purchase the land, and the plan was shelved until June 1967, when the University acquired $1.3 million to take the land through the process of eminent domain. After taking control of the land, neighborhood residents were evicted, and demolition of the existing homes began.
By 1967 the University had altered its plan; the new plan was to build student parking lot and a playing field on the land. Demolition of the existing residences took over a year, and the University ran out of development funds, leaving the lot only partially cleared of demolition debris and rubble. It remained in this state for over a year, and as winter began the muddy site became derelict with abandoned cars.
“Peoples Park is on the west coast” some of you might say, and you would be right. Let’s have a little history lesson for those of you who may not know about Peoples Park. To begin the lesson we must take our thoughts away from the Midwestern United States and think of going west to sunny California.
People's Park in Berkeley, California, USA is a park off Telegraph Avenue, bounded by Haste and Bowditch Streets and Dwight Way, near the University of California, Berkeley. The park was created during the radical political activism of the late 1960s. Today it serves mainly as a daytime sanctuary for Berkeley's large homeless population who take advantage of meals offered by East Bay Food Not Bombs. Some students make regular use of the basketball courts, and a wider audience is attracted by occasional concerts held at the performance stage. Beyond the homeless, few Berkeley residents use the community garden or other facilities.
The mythology surrounding the park is an important part of local culture. The surrounding South Campus neighborhood was the scene of a major confrontation between student protestors and law enforcement during May, 1969. A mural near the park, painted by Berkeley artist and lawyer Osha Neumann, depicts the shooting of James Rector, a student who died from shotgun wounds inflicted by law enforcement on May 15, 1969.
Origin of the park
In 1956 the Regents of the University of California earmarked a 2.8-acre (11,000 m2) plot of land containing residences for future development into student housing, parking and offices as part of the University's "Long Range Plan for Expansion." At the time funds were lacking to purchase the land, and the plan was shelved until June 1967, when the University acquired $1.3 million to take the land through the process of eminent domain. After taking control of the land, neighborhood residents were evicted, and demolition of the existing homes began.
By 1967 the University had altered its plan; the new plan was to build student parking lot and a playing field on the land. Demolition of the existing residences took over a year, and the University ran out of development funds, leaving the lot only partially cleared of demolition debris and rubble. It remained in this state for over a year, and as winter began the muddy site became derelict with abandoned cars.
On April 13, 1969, local merchants and residents held a meeting to discuss possible uses for the derelict site. Michael Delacour presented a plan for developing the under-utilized University-owned land into a public park. This plan was approved by those attending the meeting, but not by the University. Stew Albert, a co-founder of the Yippy Party, agreed to write an article for the local counter-culture newspaper, the Berkeley Barb, on the subject of the park, particularly to call for help from local residents.
Michael Delacour stated, "We wanted a free speech area that wasn't really controlled like Sproul Plaza was. It was another place to organize, another place to have a rally. The park was secondary." The University's Free Speech microphone was available to all students, with few if any restrictions on free speech. The construction of the People's Park involved many of the same people and politics as the 1964 Free Speech Movement.
On April 18, 1969, Albert's article appeared in the Berkeley Barb, and on Sunday, April 20, 1969 over 100 people arrived at the site to begin building the park. Local landscape architect Jon Read and many others contributed trees, flowers, shrubs, and sod. Free food was provided and community development of the park proceeded. Eventually, approximately 1000 people became directly involved, with many more donating money and materials. The park was essentially complete by mid-May.
Frank Bardacke, a participant in the park's development, stated in a documentary film called Berkeley in the Sixties, "A group of people took some corporate land, owned by the University of California, that was a parking lot and turned it into a park and then said, 'We're using the land better than you used it; it's ours'".
On April 28, 1969, Berkeley Vice Chancellor Earl Cheit released plans for a sports field to be built on the site. This plan conflicted with the plans of the People's Park activists. However, Vice Chancellor Cheit stated that he would take no action without notifying the park builders. Two days later, on April 30, he decided to allocate control over one quarter of the plot to the Park's builders. On May 6, 1969, Chancellor Heyns held a meeting with members of the People's Park committee, student representatives, and faculty from the College of Environmental Design. He set a time limit of three weeks for this group to produce a plan for the park, and he reiterated his promise not to take action without prior warning.
"Bloody Thursday" and its aftermath
During its first three weeks, People's Park was enjoyed and appreciated by University students and local residents alike. Telegraph Ave. merchants were particularly appreciative of the community's efforts to improve the neighborhood. Objections to the expropriation of University property tended to be mild, even among school administrators.
Governor Ronald Reagan had been publicly critical of University administrators for tolerating student demonstrations at the Berkeley campus, and he had received enormous popular support for his 1966 gubernatorial campaign promise to crack down on what was perceived as the generally lax attitude at California's public universities. Reagan called the Berkeley campus "a haven for communist sympathizers, protesters and sex deviants."
Reagan considered the creation of the park a direct leftist challenge to the property rights of the University, and he found in it an opportunity to make good on his campaign promise.
Governor Reagan overrode Chancellor Heyns' May 6, 1969 promise that nothing would be done without warning, and on Thursday, May 15, 1969 at 4:45 a.m., he sent 250 California Highway Patrol and Berkeley police officers into People's Park. The officers cleared an 8-block area around the park while a large section of what had been planted was destroyed and an 8-foot (2.4 m) tall perimeter chain-link wire fence was installed to keep people out and to prevent the planting of more trees, grass, flowers and shrubs.
Beginning at noon, approximately 3,000 people appeared in Sproul Plaza at nearby U.C. Berkeley for a rally, the original purpose of which was to discuss the Arab-Israeli conflict. Several people spoke, then Michael Lerner ceded the Free Speech platform to ASUC Student Body President Dan Siegel because students were concerned about the fencing-off and destruction of the park. Siegel said later that he never intended to precipitate a riot; however when he shouted "Let's take back the park!," police turned off the sound system. This angered some people, and the crowd responded spontaneously, moving down Telegraph Avenue toward People's Park chanting "We want the park!"
Arriving in the early afternoon, the protestors were met by the remaining 159 Berkeley and University police officers assigned to guard the fenced-off park site. The protestors opened a fire hydrant, the officers fired tear gas canisters, some protestors attempted to tear down the fence, and bottles and rocks were thrown. A major confrontation ensued between law enforcement and the crowd. Initial attempts by the police to disperse the protestors were not successful, so more officers were called in from surrounding cities.
Reagan's Chief of Staff, Edwin Meese III, a former district attorney from Alameda County, had established a reputation for firm opposition to those protesting the Vietnam War at the Oakland Induction Center and elsewhere. Meese assumed responsibility for the governmental response to the People's Park protest, and he called in the Alameda County Sheriff's deputies, which brought the total police presence to 791 officers from various jurisdictions.
Under Meese's direction, the police were permitted to use whatever methods they chose against the crowds, which had swelled to approximately 6,000 people. Officers in full riot gear (helmets, shields and gas masks) obscured their badges to avoid being identified and headed into the crowds with nightsticks swinging.
The most aggressive were the Alameda County Sheriff's deputies—later dubbed "The Blue Meanies"—who resorted to using shotguns loaded with "00" buckshot. "00" buckshot consists of lead pellets that are much larger, and thus more lethal, than the birdshot that is occasionally used for crowd control. The Alameda County Sheriff's deputies used shotguns to fire "00" buckshot at people sitting on the roof at the Telegraph Repertory Cinema, fatally wounding student James Rector and permanently blinding carpenter Alan Blanchard. Neither man was a protestor.
As the protestors retreated, the Alameda County Sheriff's deputies chased them several blocks down Telegraph Avenue as far as Willard Junior High School at Derby Street, firing tear gas canisters and "00" buckshot into their backs as they fled. At least one tear gas canister landed on the school grounds. Many people, including innocent bystanders, suffered permanent injuries, some with as many as a hundred lead pellet wounds in their scalps, necks, backs, buttocks and thighs. One man, John Willard, lived for years in intractable pain with lead pellets lodged near his spine.
At least 128 Berkeley citizens were admitted to local hospitals for head trauma, shotgun wounds, and other serious injuries inflicted by law enforcement. The actual number of seriously wounded was likely much higher, because many of the injured did not seek treatment at local hospitals to avoid being arrested. Many more protestors and bystanders were treated for minor injuries. Local hospital logs show that 19 police officers or Alameda County Sheriff's deputies were treated for minor injuries; none were hospitalized.
The authorities initially claimed that only birdshot had been used as shotgun ammunition. When physicians provided "00" pellets removed from the wounded as evidence that buckshot had been used, Sheriff Frank Madigan of Alameda County justified the use of shotguns loaded with lethal buckshot by stating "... the choice was essentially this: to use shotguns—because we didn't have the available manpower—or retreat and abandon the City of Berkeley to the mob." Sheriff Madigan did admit, however, that some of his deputies (many of whom were Vietnam War veterans) had been overly aggressive in their pursuit of the protestors, "as though they were Viet Cong."
Governor Reagan declared a state of emergency in Berkeley and sent in 2,700 National Guard troops— ironically some Guardsmen were students called to active duty. The Berkeley City Council voted 8-1 against the decision to occupy their city, however this vote was ignored. For two weeks the streets of Berkeley were barricaded with rolls of barbed wire, and freedom of assembly was denied as National Guardsmen sent tear gas canisters scuttling along the street toward any group of more than two people together.
On Wednesday, May 21, 1969, a midday memorial was held for student James Rector at Sproul Plaza on the University campus. Rector had suffered massive internal injuries from his shotgun wounds, finally dying at Herrick Hospital on May 19. In his honor, several thousand people peacefully assembled to listen to speakers remembering his life. Without warning, National Guard troops surrounded Sproul Plaza, donned their gas masks, and pointed their bayonets inward, while helicopters dropped CS gas directly on the trapped crowd. No escape was possible, and the gas caused acute respiratory distress, disorientation, temporary blindness and vomiting. Many people, including children and the elderly, were injured during the ensuing panic. The gas was so intense that breezes carried it into Cowell Memorial Hospital, endangering patients, interrupting operations and incapacitating nurses. Students at nearby Jefferson and Franklin elementary schools were also affected.
During the Peoples Park incident, National Guard troops were stationed in front of Berkeley's empty lots to prevent protestors from planting flowers, shrubs or trees. Young hippie women taunted and teased the troops, on one occasion handing out marijuana-laced brownies and lemonade spiked with LSD. A few stripped to the waist and danced for the young recruits, who tried to hide their smiles from superiors. Initially, Guardsmen were occasionally seen walking hand in hand with young Berkeley women, and they often expressed sympathy with the protesters. After about a week, however, local National Guardsmen were sent home and replaced with National Guardsmen from the more conservative Orange County south of Los Angeles; this "fixed" this problem in the view of the governor's office. Citizens who dared ask questions of National Guard commanders, or engage them in debate, were threatened with violence.
A curfew was established, and protestors jumped fences after dark to plant flowers in the guarded lots. Guardsmen destroyed the flowers each morning. Some protestors, their faces hidden with scarves, challenged police and National Guard troops. Hundreds were arrested, and Berkeley citizens who found it necessary to venture out during curfew hours risked police harassment and beatings. Berkeley city police officers were discovered to be parking several blocks away from the Annex park, removing their badges/identification and donning grotesque Halloween type masks (ironically including pig faces) to go inflict violence upon citizens they found in the park annex.
Flower Children vs.The Establishment; these differing perspectives mirrored widespread 1960s societal tensions that tended to flow along generational lines regarding the war in Vietnam, race relations, sexual mores, women's rights, traditional modes of authority, experimentation with psychedelic drugs and opposing interpretations of The American Dream.
In a University referendum held soon after, the U.C. Berkeley students themselves voted 12,719 to 2,175 in favor of keeping the park.
On May 30, 1969, 30,000 Berkeley citizens (out of a population of 100,000) secured a Berkeley city permit and marched without incident past barricaded People's Park to protest Governor Reagan's occupation of their city, the death of James Rector, the blinding of Alan Blanchard and the many injuries inflicted by law enforcement. Young girls slid flowers down the muzzles of bayoneted National Guard rifles, and a small airplane flew over the city trailing a banner that read, "Let A Thousand Parks Bloom."
Almost a year after 'Bloody Thursday' and the death of James Rector, addressing the California Council of Growers at Yosemite, Reagan defended his actions, saying: "If it takes a bloodbath, let's get it over with. No more appeasement." Less than a month later, on May 4, 1970, similar violence erupted at Kent State University, killing four students and seriously wounding nine.
No police officers, Alameda County Sheriff's deputies or National Guardsmen were disciplined for their actions in the Bloody Thursday incident.
What do all of these events that took place in Berkley, CA. at the end of the 1960’s have to do with a little plot of land all the way over in Bloomington, IN.? Well boys and girls, gather around and settle down for the rest of our little history lesson.
History of “The Park”
A very leftie guy named Larry Canada owned the corner building at Kirkwood Ave. and Dunn St. and in 1968 that housed a business called “The Black Market”. It was a place to find records, zines and even art for and by mainly African Americans of the time, he invited all the leftie groups to move in. There were books and classes offered as well. During, I believe, Christmas vacation 1969 when everyone was gone the local K.K.K. burned it to the ground and no one was ever caught.
The building was eventually demolished and the vacant property was left abandoned for many years.
In 1967 Indianapolis native Kathy Noyes moved to Bloomington from Boston, where she had been enrolled in school. She was recently divorced from her husband, who had enlisted in the army after receiving his draft notice. She had an inheritance from her father, Evan Noyes, an executive with the pharmaceutical firm Eli Lilly and nephew of the company’s founder. In Bloomington Noyes met Larry Canada, a local boy, who in her own words “swept me off of my feet.” They got married in Beck Chapel on the IU campus.
The northeast corner lot now known as “Peoples Park” was originally to be the home of “The Fated Calf.” a franchise restaurant, but those plans fell through. The vacant lot became over run with trash and litter and became an eyesore for the community. Then the local hippies and activist squatted on it and in March of 1970 turned it into Peoples Park'. The project was headed by Tom Canada the little brother of Larry Canada. Tom was quoted the by the Herald Telephone as saying “What we want to do is turn it into a park for the people. We want to plant flowers and put in benches. Anybody can use the park.”
A troubled history
Kathy Noyes Canada did more than just buy a farm and settle down to the joys of country living. Her husband had a vision of creating a new community in southern Indiana where people could come from all over the country and live freely off of the land. The Canadas bought several farms amassing about a thousand acres. Word went out that anyone could come live there for free. It did not take long for strangers from far places as distant as Washington D.C., and San Francisco to find there way there. Maybe that is where the “Oasis of the Midwest” title originated.
The FBI focused on the area because of Larry Canada’s friendship with Rennie Davis, one of the original members of the SDS, Davis and Canada were suspected of being part of that groups plot to plant a bomb in the nations capital. FBI came to Bloomington, specifically to Peoples Park looking for evidence that might be used against Canada. Local police arrested a few residents for possession of marijuana, but Kathy Canada suspected that they were more interested in finding out about her husbands political activities than they were in prosecuting people for pot. Black helicopters could be seen and heard in the skies above southern Indiana. After several months of surveillance, FBI agents arrested Larry Canada while he was sitting in Bloomington’s Peoples Park, on land also owned by him and Kathy.
As far as Kathy Canada was concerned, the situation was going downhill quickly. She had a small daughter to take care of and she was beginning to get frightened. One night in June 1971, someone burned a cross in a field opposite her house. Her neighbors received Ku Klux Klan literature in the mail. Finally Kathy divorced her husband.
In the 1960s a group of people lived in and around town who were connected in one way or another with the university people or with people who were, and who formed a viable cultural alternative to the local academic and business community. They were looking for a way out of straight society, a money-based economy, and all of the problems that went with the conventional lifestyles. Longtime residents were disturbed by newcomers who were drawn by Bloomington’s hospitality or attractiveness. What began as a peaceful cultural experiment turned into a battle between conflicting age groups and worldviews. Members of the counterculture took it all in as they continued to live their lives quietly on Bloomington’s streets, in country houses, and on nearby farms.
As far as Kathy Canada was concerned, the situation was going downhill quickly. She had a small daughter to take care of and she was beginning to get frightened. One night in June 1971, someone burned a cross in a field opposite her house. Her neighbors received Ku Klux Klan literature in the mail. Finally Kathy divorced her husband.
In the 1960s a group of people lived in and around town who were connected in one way or another with the university people or with people who were, and who formed a viable cultural alternative to the local academic and business community. They were looking for a way out of straight society, a money-based economy, and all of the problems that went with the conventional lifestyles. Longtime residents were disturbed by newcomers who were drawn by Bloomington’s hospitality or attractiveness. What began as a peaceful cultural experiment turned into a battle between conflicting age groups and worldviews. Members of the counterculture took it all in as they continued to live their lives quietly on Bloomington’s streets, in country houses, and on nearby farms.
The “Park” has went through its rough times over the years as well. In 1975 Larry Canada was poised to sell the park to a corporate firm who was in turn going to build a three story concrete business structure. According to an article in the Indiana Daily Student dated June 19, 1975 he changed his mind and gave up a “$2 million signed lease” for a space in the structure because of public opposition. He was also quoted as saying “There’s no reason that I as an individual should have to supply the public with something that is the responsibility of the city.”
Eventually Kathy Canada did donate the park to the city on the condition that the property always remain a park or it would be returned to her estate, and not long there after about 45 percent of the park was lost when the back field was paved over to make a parking lot.
In 1978 the “sitting walls” were added to the side of the park that faced Kirkwood Ave. New tables were added at this time as well as the first paved walk ways.
Then again in the eighties the park was stripped down and sterilized even more when nearly all of the original trees were uprooted and replaced with friendlier saplings while the majority of the grass was covered over with brick and pavement.
In the 1990’s police became concerned that the park was being used for loitering and drug traffic. It was rated by High Times magazine as the number five spot in the nation to score drugs. The city sought suggestions on how to make the park safer and more attractive. Fore the past two decades it has been a constant back and forth battle between local politicians and the people as to whether the park would be turned into commercial real estate or remain a park for the people. Police presence was increased over the past few years and there are even tales that the Park was under constant video surveillance. I have spent a good number of days in “the Park” just hanging out with friends and drinking (back when I did drink) or smoking some heady weed whenever I was in the area. I have made out with lovers and friends on the stone sculpture known as the U-ie and once had my check bone fractured when I got into some kind of drug induced drunken altercation. A lot has changed over the years. I no longer drink or use drugs these days and the park has become a concrete covered area that resembles a parking lot than a park. Everything changes with the passing of time I suppose.
I have even been hearing rumors that the park was recently "incorporated" by the Indiana University campus. These are as of this writing nothing more than rumors however. This could spell out bad news for the future of "Peoples Park" if these rumors prove to hold any truth.
Today, few of the people in People’s Park know the history of the place- the hippie head shops of the 1960s, the Black Market and the Klan firebombing in 1968, the connection with the Canadas. Ask people today what Bloomington is like and about “Peoples Park” and you are more likely to hear about the town’s links with the university, and especially with its nationally known basketball team. Then there are others that will say when asked “Bloomington,” with an odd knowing look in their eyes, “why, that’s the town where all the hippies were in the 1960s,” and then smile that strange little smile.
