As mentioned in the intro, many of the community parks in Glassboro share an interesting element in common: Before their current states of use, many of these parks served some rather different auxiliary purposes, such as serving industrial or commercial needs. One park that has stayed rather faithful to its past is Owens Field. According to Carmen Trifiletti, the park began as a hub for athletics in Glassboro, serving as a home for the Athletic Club. The park was the location of various football and baseball games throughout the mid 1900s including games from the Saint Anthony’s Club, who continue to meet to this day. Today, the park continues to serve the athletic community with its baseball diamond and flat layout. An interesting tidbit is that the baseball diamond was once the location a cemetery.

South Delsea Drive’s prior purpose certainly was a key moment in history for Glassboro. During the years of World War II, the park served as a German labor camp for POWs. According to various accounts, the prisoners were treated rather respectfully, but the fact remains that the camp existed and these people were held against their will. Once the war passed, the prisoners were released, the structures were removed, and eventually the introduction of the football field, playgrounds, baseball diamonds, and the Parks and Rec department building transformed the space into the current appearance of the park. Today, it serves both a recreational and an administrative purpose: baseball games are commonly held at the park, the playground serves as an outlet for kids to expel their energy, and the Parks and Rec building houses important documents and information. It also serves as the hub for the Senior Citizen Club, which serves to involve seniors in recreational activities and trips around the world.


The space that is now Renlund Memorial Park, sometimes simply referred to as Memorial Park, began as a popular farmers market. However, as time passed and farming became less lucrative, the market’s proceeds declined. Shortly after, the marketplace mysteriously burned down, the cause of the fire remains questionable to this day (a popular rumor suggests that the fire was an attempt at insurance fraud). Afterwards, the space was slowly converted into the current park as the walkways and design fell into place, demonstrating again how a space with some dark history can be transformed into something positive. For example, in the fall of 2019, members of the Glassboro community came together to help construct a playground at the park, saving the town $30,000 dollars in installation costs. Volunteers from the event reported they gained a "sense of ownership" from participation, an admirable change from the parks history. Aside from the playground and walkways, the park is also notable for its rather beautiful display of trees, its vast size, and its proximity to the Glassboro water tower.

The Town Square is the most recently renovated addition to this list; its purposes varied from the location of the junior mechanics building, a building that also met its demise via fire, to a gas station that later had to be removed and cleaned. The space that the square now resides on underwent extensive construction throughout 2017-2019, resulting in the current state of the square. It contains features such as a statue of a man glassblowing, a fountain, a fireplace, the veterans memorial, and etc. The sight is now notable for its use as a community event location. Recently, the space was a host to a food truck festival, the Italian Heritage festival, trick or treating, and a car show that, at one point, attracted an estimated 10,000 viewers. The park is notable for its proximity near the prestigious Rowan University, and students can be commonly seen walking the grounds. While this park is admittingly more urban in nature as compared to those previously listed, its function as a mini history tour via its various memorableia suits its mechanical nature. It shows an optimistic viewpoint of Glassboro’s history, such as through the glassblower statue, which glorifies the efforts of the Whitney glassblowing business despite some of its controversial practices. Nevertheless, the Town Square is a community center that represents the immense pride Glassboro citizens have for their town. 

As one can see, many of these spaces once served dark, industrial, or otherwise alternative purposes for the town, before their evolution into their current states. What’s interesting to note is that most of these parks make little effort to advertise their past purposes, showing how truth of history can be altered or even wiped out by memory. Yet, it is inspiring to see the growth of these spaces into places of unity and environmental protection that exemplify the positive changes in Glassboro.