LaGrange discusses renaming linear park

Published 10:00 am Saturday, October 1, 2022

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The LaGrange City Council is considering moving Frank Cox’s name from Union Street Park to the recently created linear park.

During the Sept. 27 work session, LaGrange City Manager Meg Kelsey brought up potentially renaming the linear park in front of the LaGrange Housing Authority on Whitesville Rd. after Frank Cox.

Kelsey said the current park named after Cox on Union Street will be lost due to the widening of Hamilton Rd.

“We basically had to surrender that property for the Hamilton Rd. widening project. We had to remove a lot of the markers that we had for Mr. Cox from where we named that area for him,” said Kelsey.

The city originally thought a portion of the Frank Cox Union Street Park would remain after the decades-long road-widening project is completed, but it now looks like the park will be completely lost.

Kelsey said there has been some discussion of moving markers from Union Street to the linear park and naming that park for him.

Councilman Willie Edmondson suggested changing the name of the linear park to Frank and Eleanor Cox Park because of his wife’s contributions to the community as well.

“We didn’t want Frank Cox’s name to just die, so we thought we’d just move him to the linear park, rather than just letting that park just go away,” said Edmondson.

Mayor Jim Thornton suggested naming the park the Frank and Eleanor Cox Linear Park, because of the naming convention of the previous park and making sure all of the city park signage matches.

The name change is still under consideration and will likely be taken up for a vote at a future council meeting.