Community Celebrates Warminster Park's 10th Anniversary

In the 10 years since it first opened to the public, Warminster Community Park has slowly turned into a central hub for recreation activities not only for township residents, but the wider community.

Starting in the spring, almost every weekend features a 5K fundraiser, car show or pet adoption event at the park, attracting people throughout the region to the Warminster community. That pull continued Saturday afternoon as families braved the chilly wind to climb aboard school buses, fire trucks and Temple University Hospital's MedFlight helicopter as part of the Touch-a-Truck event celebrating the park's 10th anniversary.

The 243-acre Warminster Community Park was created when U.S. Navy closed the former site of the Naval Air Development Center as part of the Base Realignment and Closure program. The NADC was split between public and commercial usage, with a large chunk of real estate used for the construction of Ann's Choice Retirement Community, Costco, and Vertical Screen.

"This became probably the first successful navy base reuse in the country," said Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick during a ceremony celebrating the anniversary. "Up until the NADC's closing, there had been no demonstrable examples of a navy base put to full active reuse for a community."

The park grew and evolved over the years, adding a history walk to the hiking trails, a popular Bark Park for the four-legged community members, a Safetytown play area designed and constructed by members of Warminster Rotary and used by children to ride their bikes around a model community and the recent move of the Warminster Parks and Recreation Department's main facilities.

Township Chairperson Leo Quinn proclaimed that there is more in store for the park's near future, following a master plan formulated after the NADC closed in 1997. Plans include the construction of a pavilion to house the training capsule used by NASA astronauts who prepared for Mercury and Gemini missions at the NADC. Two acres have been set aside for the pavilion, and the Johnsville Centrifuge and Science Museum is working with the township to get permission from the U.S. Department of the Interior to install the structure.

Quinn also mentioned that the township is awaiting approval from the state for a $1.7 million grant that will be used to construct a larger facility on the former NADC runway that will help re-establish some of the services lost by the closure and return of Hart Elementary to the Centennial School District.