The University of Nebraska Press adopted Cooper Park to help clean, preserve, and maintain it throughout the year. UNP’s first park clean-up was Friday, August 30, from 9 to 11 a.m. The Press chose this date to help begin the Labor Day weekend on a positive note. The Press will have a monthly clean-up of the park throughout the year.

Cooper Park is located directly south of Park Middle School, and nice walk from the Press. It was established in 1868 and celebrated its 150^th anniversary in 2018. It is Lincoln’s oldest park, even older than Lincoln itself. In 1900 the Ladies’ City Improvement Association hired Jens Jensen to redesign the park. He designed Hyde Park in Chicago and is considered the “Frank Lloyd Wright of landscape architecture.”

Cooper Park is undergoing revitalization due to the efforts of several groups, including NeighborWorks Lincoln, the South of Downtown Community Development Organization, and Lincoln’s Parks & Recreation Department.

On Friday, September 20, UNP continued our upkeep of Cooper Park and participated in the Near South Clean-Up in which we took care of these blocks: 10th-11th, G to H and 11th-12th, G to H—the same neighborhood where our office is located.