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Lithia: a people's park Site wins award for the way its design fosters neighborly interaction BY DANI DODGE ASHLAND -- Swans frolicked in Lithia Park's lower duck pond as Travis Murdock captured their image in strokes of blue watercolor. The 22-year-old Talent resident goes to Lithia Park to paint whenever he can take time off from his job as a grocery clerk. "There's a real subtle energy about the park," the aspiring artist explained. "Normally when people interact there is fear and inhibition, but here people seem relaxed, they are in a peaceful context with each other. "It's fascinating, and I love it." The American Society of Landscape Architects would assert that the carefree exchanges between people in Lithia Park are a function of great design -- and in fact, they are honoring the park for that very thing. Ashland's Parks and Recreation Department says Lithia Park's landscaping won an ASLA Centennial Medallion Award along with 362 places including San Francisco's Ghirardelli Square and New York's Central Park. The only other Oregon park to be recognized was the Tom McCall Waterfront Park in Portland. "Basically the idea is we are having the 100-year anniversary and we wanted to honor places of the heart," said Deborah Sherno, a spokeswoman for the ASLA in Washington, D.C. "A lot of people don't realize that the places they enjoy are created and what makes them so enjoyable is the design." Parks Director Ken Mickelsen said the award is a tribute to the people of Ashland -- past and present -- who have supported the park with their tax dollars as well as the sweat of their brows. Hundreds of people helped clean up and restore the park after it was hit by floods in 1974 and 1997. "The dedication they have shown is special and unique," Mickelsen said. "You don't find a community of our size that has the history and legacy of a Lithia Park." Lithia Park started in the late 1800s because of Lithia water and Chautauqua, a program providing speakers and entertainment. Women of the community beautified the creek area until in the 1900s they went to the City Council asking that the land be made into a city park. On Dec. 15, 1908, the community voted 607 to 138 to dedicate all city-owned land bordering the creek, from the plaza to the forest reserve, as park land. Donn Todt, the city's horticulturist, said the park was developed in the "Olmstead style" by John McClaren, who is also known for San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The style was developed by Frederick Law Olmstead -- who created New York's Central Park and influenced Golden Gate Park -- after he was inspired by parks in England that had an informal air. In 1914, McLaren put together a plan for a large portion of Ashland's Lithia Park, including the Sycamore Grove and Japanese Garden up through the parks department's headquarters. "Instead of everything being pruned and clipped and hedged, he saw curved linear patterns," Todt said. Todt also attributed the park's success to parks commissions and longtime parks director Chet Corry, who was the park superintendent from the 1930s to the 1960s, and Mickelsen, who has been the parks director since 1979. In 1979, Lithia Park was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1996, it was selected as one of 60 sites included in the publication "A Guide to Great American Places." But Anna Tyler, 20, of Ashland, goes to the park not because of its historic significance or recognitions, but because it just feels good. Monday, she was there with her two young charges, Ryan and Colin Downey, 2 and 5 respectively. Sitting on a quilt spread out in the Sycamore Grove, the boys chomped on cherries while Tyler read them "Where the Wild Things Are." "I come here a lot," she said as Colin snuck cherries into her shoes behind her back. "I just love all the different parts -- from the Japanese Gardens to the duck ponds." Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA