Taylor University has secured an $85,000 grant from Muncie-based Ball Brothers Foundation that will contribute to the creation of a canoe launch on the Mississinewa River.
The grant will be used by Taylor and a community partnership with the Town of Upland to build an access road to the proposed site of a canoe launch on the Mississinewa River. Flat Land Resources LLC of Muncie will serve as the consultant on the project. The construction site will be a mile west of the Taylor campus near the corner of County Roads 800 East and 650 South, the latter also known as the Devil’s Backbone, on land owned by Taylor University known as the Taylor Wilderness. Once the project is completed the plan is for Taylor to donate the land to the Town of Upland for their park system.
According to Ron Sutherland, Special Assistant to the President at Taylor and the grant’s author, this is the next step in fulfilling a local part of the Ball Brothers Foundation Project Blueways Initiative, i.e. using Indiana’s waterways for recreational boating and canoeing. The funds would create a 12-foot-wide stone road, parking spaces, and a gate. Also included would be benches and signage.
Sutherland and local planners state that the canoe launch portion of the project continues to be reviewed with potential partners to fund its construction.
“This is the latest fruit of hard work done by our friends and neighbors in the Town of Upland to create spaces where not only our residents but also visitors from out of town and our Taylor students can enjoy life here in our hometown,” Sutherland said. “We are grateful for our partners in the Ball Brothers Foundation, who share in our desire to see life flourishing in Central Indiana.”
In recent years, Upland and Taylor University were successful in creating a one-mile-long trail that begins on Upland’s Main Street and ends near Kershner Commons on Berry Street. Future projects already slated include work by INDOT on Main Street from the north end of the Town to Taylor University, which will include the railroad overpass on Main Street to lengthen the grade of the bridge as well as all-new sidewalks, street lighting, curbs and repaving as well as downtown parking and beautification on Main Street.
A date is being finalized for the canoe trailhead construction.
