Oread Castle Park, also known as Castle Park, is a three acre park replete with history and located on the front line of Worcester’s fight for the future over crime and drug abuse.

Castle Park is located in Main South in between Main and Chandler Streets (the park can be accessed by Oread Place off from main or Ely St via Queen St off Chandler). However, these are dirt roads, making this park somewhat hard to access despite its very urban setting.

The park is named for the Oread Collegiate Institute which was formerly located on the property. This was one of the first women’s colleges in the country, founded in 1848 by Eli Thayer who was a graduate of Brown University and was looking to replicate its academic experience in Worcester.

A castle-like building featuring Gothic architecture was home to the school, but did not remain open for very long as the parties involved in its functioning got tangled up in a land dispute and it was never officially incorporated. After the Oread Collegiate Institute closed, the grand building was used as a school of domestic science, but that school soon closed as well, leaving the building abandoned to crumble into ruin. The building was demolished in the 1930s and the city took the land for taxes in 1949. It officially became a public park in 1954 after the eminent domain case was settled in court.

The park currently features a basketball, a playground and tennis courts. The handball court was removed last year to be relocated when the renovations started in the fall of 2015.

Those renovations follow when the city approved a master plan for Castle Park in 2014, calling for $1.5 to $2 million in improvements. Those amenities listed above will be moved around to improve the park user experience. The tennis court will be replaced with a paved ‘multi-purpose’ court. The upgraded park will also feature a handicapped-accessible walking path, replacing the park’s current, unevenly paved and somewhat steep winding main path.

This park’s location has made it a bastion of crime and drug use. In the summer of 2016, the park stewards summer work program pulled 40 needles out of the park’s wooded area. The Main South CDC and the King-Shepard Neighborhood watch has done so much work keeping an eye on the park and seeking to improve it. This park has the potential to be a very positive asset for a densely populated neighborhood for which a well maintained green space with attractive and useful amenities that draw park users from the immediate community and beyond.