Oakdale Park: Salina’s Oldest Park Has Been a Gathering Place for Nearly 150 Years

Salina311 is working with the Smoky Hill Museum to bring more of Salina’s history to life through stories, photographs and a closer look at the people, places and events that helped shape the community.

As part of that effort, we are taking a look back at Oakdale Park, Salina’s oldest public park. The historic photographs featured in this story are courtesy of the Smoky Hill Museum.

Long before the Smoky Hill River Festival, pickleball courts or the Leadsled Spectacular, Salinans were already heading to Oakdale Park for entertainment.

The activities just looked a little different.

Oakdale Park dates back to 1881, making it Salina’s oldest public park and one of the city’s longest-running gathering places.

It Started With 45 Acres

The property was originally part of land owned by early Salina resident John Geis before Saline County purchased about 45 acres for $5,500 and developed it as a public park.

The location played a major role in what Oakdale became. The old channel of the Smoky Hill River curved around the park, leaving Oakdale surrounded by water on three sides. At the time, the river was not simply something next to the park. It was part of the experience.

People boated on the river, swam in it and gathered along its banks. Oakdale and nearby City Park were connected by the Mulberry Street bridge, creating a recreational area that would have looked very different from what Salinans see today.

Oakdale Had a Racetrack

One of the most unusual parts of Oakdale’s early history was its half-mile racetrack and spectator stands.

Horse racing was a major attraction in the park, and the track was later used for bicycle races and even early automobile racing. It is difficult to imagine today, but the same park now associated with playgrounds, gardens and community events once had crowds watching horses and bicycles race around a track.

Oakdale was not originally designed to be only a quiet green space. It was also a place for competition, entertainment and large public gatherings.

Yes, There Was Shotgun Shooting

Oakdale also reflected the recreation of its era in ways that would seem unusual today.

Historical accounts from the late 1800s and early 1900s include organized shooting competitions and sporting events, including shotgun shooting, as part of the broader entertainment culture surrounding parks and community gatherings.

A shotgun and a city park are probably not two things most Salinans would associate with each other today, but public parks of that era often functioned as a combination of fairground, sporting venue and community center.

Oakdale was a place where people went to see something happen.

Thousands Gathered at Claflin Hall

As Salina grew, Oakdale grew with it.

Claflin Hall was built in the park in 1901 and later became closely associated with Salina’s Chautauqua Assembly, which began in 1906. Chautauqua programs brought music, lectures, speakers, educational programs and other entertainment to communities across the country.

Oakdale became one of Salina’s major venues for those events, and the auditorium could accommodate roughly 3,200 people.

For a growing Kansas community, that made Oakdale much more than a neighborhood park. It was one of Salina’s major entertainment destinations.

You Could Spend the Day Swimming

By the 1920s, Oakdale had another major attraction.

A municipal swimming pool was built in the park in 1925, complete with diving platforms, slides and a sand beach. For generations of Salinans, a summer trip to Oakdale could mean spending the afternoon swimming just as easily as it might mean attending a community event.

Over time, the pool disappeared and newer recreational facilities took its place, but it added another chapter to a park that constantly seemed to reinvent itself.

The River Changed, But Oakdale Stayed

The Smoky Hill River itself eventually changed dramatically.

Flood-control projects altered the river and left the old channel through Salina without the regular flow it once carried. Oakdale was no longer surrounded by an active river in the same way earlier generations had known it.

Other pieces of the park’s history disappeared as well. The racetrack is gone. Claflin Hall is gone. The municipal pool is gone.

Oakdale, however, never stopped being a place where Salina gathered.

From Horse Races to the River Festival

Since 1977, Oakdale has been home to the Smoky Hill River Festival, bringing thousands of people into the park for music, art, food and entertainment.

The park also hosts the KKOA Leadsled Spectacular and today includes the botanical garden, gazebo, playgrounds, shelters, stages, pickleball courts and other recreational spaces.

That continuity may be the most interesting part of Oakdale’s story.

Salinans once came to watch horse races, ride boats on the Smoky Hill River, attend Chautauqua programs, swim at the municipal pool or take part in sporting competitions. Today, they come for festivals, car shows, concerts, playgrounds, gardens and family gatherings.

Nearly 150 Years of Salina Fun

The next time you walk through Oakdale Park, it is worth imagining what that same ground has seen.

Horses circling a racetrack. Bicycles racing in front of spectators. Boats moving along the river. Shotgun competitions. Thousands of people gathering for Chautauqua programs. Children heading toward the swimming pool.

Then, decades later, musicians playing at the River Festival and custom cars filling the park during Leadsled.

Oakdale Park has changed many times since 1881, but its role in Salina really has not.

For nearly 150 years, it has simply been one of the places Salinans go to be together.

Salina311 is working with the Smoky Hill Museum to bring more of Salina’s history to life through stories, photos and a look back at the people, places and events that helped shape our community.

This story is part of that effort. We appreciate the Smoky Hill Museum for helping us explore Salina’s past and for providing the historic photographs featured in this story.

Historic photos courtesy of the Smoky Hill Museum.