Efforts underway to preserve Woolrich Park

LOCK HAVEN, PA – The Clinton County Commissioners on Monday provided an update on plans to preserve Woolrich Park, presently a holding of Woolrich, Inc., the European-based firm which recently approached the county about plans to divest itself of the nine-acre park.

According to county commissioner Angela Harding, the present ownership has offered to donate the park to the county, rather than see it developed commercially. She said since the county does not have the resources to operate the facility, county government is working with the Pine Creek Township supervisors for the township to be involved in the preservation effort.

The park, which dates back at least one hundred years, is presently exempt from real estate taxes. The park houses, in addition to traditional playground fare and pavilions, a log building built by Johannes Zeigler in 1820, the building first used as a church near the Zeigler Cemetery. The building had been disassembled and relocated to the Woolrich Park in 1930 and became the Zeigler Museum with artifacts on display during the Woolrich Woolen Mills 100 year celebration in July of 1930. It now sits empty.

The park also houses several baseball and softball fields and is home to the Woolrich Little League team. Harding said other park users are involved in the dialogue for the park’s future.

Woolrich ownership had announced in 2018 it was closing its woolen mills in the village of Woolrich. Those massive buildings now sit empty but the Woolrich Store, adjacent to the park, remains in operation. Additional outbuildings near the woolen mills were subsequently sold and are in use for warehousing.