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Ever since Columbus stopped managing the Luxapalila Creek Park in 2020, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which owns the land, has kept the park and boat ramp closed.
At the time, Columbus City Council claimed the city could no longer afford park upkeep or regularly keep criminal activity out of the area.
But when did the park open? Who managed it before the city? How was the park been used through the years and what is its current state and future?
When did the park open?
The park opened under the Corps of Engineers ownership in the late 1980s after construction completed for the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway, which flows through Columbus.
At the time, Corps of Engineers Operations Site Manager Justin Murphree said, the Corps co-leased the land to Lowndes County and the city to jointly manage the park.
“When the waterway was built, there were certain areas reserved for parks, with the Luxapalila Creek Park being one of them, and the reason they were built was for local governments to run them as parks,” Murphree said. “The Corps never had congressional authorization to run it as a park by itself.”
Upon its opening, the park featured picnic tables, a walking trail, a pavilion, bathrooms and a boat ramp.
City Engineer Kevin Stafford said he remembers when the park was quite popular during the mid-1990s through 2000s, when he would float down the creek with some friends, using the Luxapalila Creek Park as a landing area to get back to town and occasionally visit.
“It was a great spot at the time,” Stafford said. “I remember all that good stuff. What we would do is go park our car down there, and it had a parking lot, a boat ramp, and restrooms, and of course, people would put their boat in and mainly fish from down there and stuff like that.”
Why the park closed
Murphree said in 2001, the city voted to take over the park on a 25-year term.
The city council voted in 2019 to back out of its lease with the Corps with a one-year notice.
“The council voted that (maintaining the park) was just not a sustainable option that we had out there,” Mayor Keith Gaskin said. “It became an unsafe location with less than desirable activities out there.”
Murphree said the Corps kept the park open for almost two years before officially closing it in August 2022.
“We don’t have the funding to run it as a park,” he said. “When we got it back from the city, we had no choice but just to close the gate sadly.”
Current state of the park/ future
Murphree said since closing, the park has gone unused and mostly unmaintained. Still, the park still features a pavilion, restrooms, a boat ramp and a walking trail.
“It’s in rough shape,” Murphree said. “We know there is some activity out there that is hard for us to regulate. We’ve got a locked gate up there, but some people still go around that with four-wheelers.”
Earlier this year, a group of graduate students from Mississippi State University submitted a feasibility study to the city for a third-party company to lease a portion of Propst Park and the Luxapalila Creek Park for a kayaking business, where customers could pay to float down the creek and be picked back up at the Luxapalila Creek Park boat ramp.
Gaskin said the city is interested in working with potential companies wishing to locate there but has not found one.
Gaskin added that he plans to work with the county and the Corps soon to gauge interest in reopening the park, but it is not currently a top city priority.
“The city should have an interest in the future in partnering with the county and the Corps to make that a usable outdoor space for Columbus and Lowndes county residents and visitors,” Gaskin said. “That is a prime location to have a really good outdoor recreation area.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 36 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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