English Landing Park

Canada goose on the Missouri River, English Landing Park, June 2018

English Landing Park is along the Missouri River in Parkville, Missouri, United States. There is a set of train tracks that runs along the park. It has a jogging/biking trail, several shelters for picnics, a soccer field, a baseball diamond, volleyball courts, two playgrounds and a nine-hole Frisbee golf course.

The area of English Landing Park was bought in 1838. The Power Plant Restaurant, which sits right next to the railroad tracks at the entrance to the park, was built in the mid-19th century as a coal-fired twin-boiler power plant that fed the entire city. The park later became a civil war port for the slave trade.

Parkville was not a Civil War battlefield, but there was still mass genocide as numerous slaves tried desperately to escape across the river into Free Kansas. These slaves were buried in three large unmarked cemeteries. After the Civil War, the port was abandoned and the area slowly changed from a bustling city to what is Parkville.

The park includes the historic Bridge, built 1898 which spanned Linn Branch Creek.

Flooding

During the Great Flood of 1993, the park and most of Downtown Parkville were submerged under more than 15 feet of water.

On May 4, 2003, English Landing Park narrowly missed an EF1 tornado that came across the river and cut damage paralleling the railroad tracks before crossing 9 Highway.

In May 2007, the Missouri River flooded the entire park with less than 3 feet of water. The river receded approximately a week later. Also in 2007, the Power Plant Restaurant's neglected smokestack had to be torn down, eradicating an icon of the city's past. On March 17, 2019, The river flooded up over English Landing Park all the way to the train tracks before retreating a few days later. No buildings were damaged but playground equipment and structures at the dog park were damaged and lost. Also, a bridge that goes over the Linn branch creek collapsed.

Other websites

• English Landing Park
• Platte Landing Park, Platte County
• Platte Landing Park, Parkville