Chicopee park honors post-Sept. 11 military service, dogs

After years of false starts, an aspirational napkin sketch has finally become a reality with a new park in Chicopee honoring post-Sept. 11 military service and the contributions of military dogs.

On June 1, public officials, military leaders, veterans, residents and dogs gathered to open a 7-acre space dedicated to those who served in the military after Sept. 11, 2001, and to military dogs. The Western Massachusetts Post 9/11 and Service Dog Memorial Park is the first to be opened in Chicopee’s Ward 1, and has the city’s first dog park.

The park joins dozens of military-themed locations in Chicopee, and reflects an ongoing tradition of military commitment in the community, according to Mayor John Vieau. As the host of Westover Air Reserve Base, the “veteran proud” city of 55,000 is also home to more than 4,000 veterans, he said.

“It took a lot of effort from some really special people who felt that turning this underutilized, potential park area into a unique celebration of those who serve, and also memorializing those canines that lost their lives, is something really special, and I’m excited that we host it,” Vieau said. “We’re hopeful that many have an opportunity to come visit.”

Donated to Chicopee by the Westover base in the 1970s, the heavily wooded land sat unused for decades, and a committee’s 2012 effort to create a park failed to materialize. When Stephanie Shaw became the veterans’ services director in 2017, then-Mayor Richard Kos asked her to do something with the property — perhaps a dog park, given the demand for one. But she had a different epiphany when she visited the property.

“I went out there and I stood at the top of this hill in the middle of this wooded area going, ‘Oh, we can do better,’” Shaw said. “It’s 7 acres. I can’t just put a turnaround with a stone. We have 66 monuments and dedicated spaces in the city. I didn’t need another place that people were just going to drive by. I wanted to create a space people would want to drive to.”

Shaw returned to her car, she said, and drew her vision on a napkin. She reconvened the earlier committee to pursue the new park concept, but kept her napkin private, for fear of influencing the process. When the design firm unveiled its plans for the park, the concept looked very familiar to Shaw.

“They saw what I saw,” she said.

The new park, which broke ground in February 2023, contains walking trails, playground and fitness areas, granite pavers etched with a timeline of Massachusetts deployments since 2001, and 27 educational signs about the weapons and equipment used by Massachusetts units since 2001. It also includes a sculpture holding replica tags from veterans, sand features evoking areas where people deployed, and a mural reflecting Massachusetts service.

“We said, ‘Let’s build a space for everyone in the area that came home,’” Shaw said, “so that we can take our families and our children, and reflect and remember and share stories and educate the next generation on what our war was like.”

The park has separate dog park enclosures for large and small dogs and honors military dogs, with signs about the breeds of working dogs in service and the value they have provided after service, Shaw said.

The park cost about $2.5 million, officials said. The funding came from numerous sources, including a $415,000 Land and Water Conservation Fund grant, a legislative earmark, funds from the American Rescue Plan Act, and city funding.