LOUISVILLE, Ky. — On Saturday afternoon a unique park opened in Louisville. The Alberta O. Jones park officially opened in the Californina neighborhood.

What You Need To Know

  • The Alberta O. Jones park officially opened in the California neighborhood on Saturday

  •  The park features a music themed playground, pollinator garden, performance space, and free Wi-Fi

  • The park honors the late Louisville civil rights leader Alberta O. Jones who was the city’s first African American woman to pass the Kentucky bar

  • Other parts of the park are expected to be completed in the next two years, according to the Park Alliance of Louisville

Now that the park is officially open, children like Harper Duke, 11, can play on the music-themed playground.

“I think it’s really cool, and it’s, like, different. Different from other parks because it has different things that you can climb o, just like, playing and, run around,” said Harper Duke, who visited the park on its opening day. 

Her mother agrees that the newly transformed seven acres of vacant land is a great addition to her community.

“I mean, it definitely looks like there are things out here for all ages. So for the bigger kids, like I have, there’s lots of fun stuff. Love the musical elements, lots of ways to mix music and play,” said Amber Duke, Harper’s mother. 

The park has a playground, performance space and a pollinator garden. It’s also the first park in West Louisville with free Wi-Fi.

“We have pavilions and grills and an outdoor classroom and walking paths and exercise stations and then this phenomenal playground,” said Brooke Pardue, president/CEO of Parks Alliance of Louisville. 

The park honors the late Louisville civil rights leader Alberta O. Jones, who was the city’s first African American woman to pass the Kentucky bar. She later negotiated Muhammad Ali’s boxing contract. Today she is honored in the California neighborhood.

“We did a direct mail piece to every household asking them what they wanted to name the park, and they overwhelmingly selected the name of Alberta Jones,” said Pardue. 

As for Harper, she hopes this isn’t her last time at the park.

“Seems really fun. Yeah, I’ll definitely come back,” Harper Duke said. 

This is just phase one of the Alberta O. Jones park. The Park Alliance of Louisville said it hopes to have the other areas completed within the next 24 months.

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