Built by brothers Joseph and Frank Mares between 1892-95, Central Park on Ten Mile Creek was for decades a popular leisure destination. Since 1946, the site has been home to the Green Meadow Country Club.

The immigrant Mares brothers made their fortune first through mining investments, then in the meat trade. They purchased the acreage along Ten Mile Creek in 1892, for use as a combination feed lot, pasture, and processing facility. The lake was to be their source of ice for refrigeration. The Northern Pacific tracks bisected the plot, providing handy access to shipping.

The brothers saw the opportunity to use the land south of the tracks for an amusement park, and constucted a wonderful complex that was a popular leisure destination for a quarter-century.

Central Park boasted a zoo, a saloon, the grand pavillion, boating on the lake, a bowling alley, stables, an aviary, a baseball diamond and more -- all set on beautifully landscaped grounds with broad walks. An electric streetcar line ran from Helena to the park, making for an easy excursion.

The Mares brothers entered into a promotional agreement with the Northern Pacific Railroad to display beside the tracks a kind of living tableau of the west, featuring elk, bison, deer and even some Native Americans, who lived in tipis just east of the park. The trains would slow down while passing through the area, giving passengers an opportunity to see these novelties up-close.

The carousel at Central Park. Your editor saw one of these horses when I was a youngster, probably about 1955. It was stored in a barn in the Seymer Park addition, west of the Central Park site. The barn was near the home of Eliza Whyte, on what is now Terrace Ave. Eliza's son, Everett Whyte, was a groundskeeper at the Green Meadow Country Club, and may have aquired the horse there.

Prohibition in 1920 and the elimination of Helena streetcar service in 1928 put a damper on business at Central Park. The saloon was opened as a restaurant, but it soon changed hands...