User:SnowyCinema/Whirlpool Park

Not to be confused with Whirlpool State Park.

Whirlpool Park
A view of the playground equipment that still remains on the property, as of 2017
Type	Playground, nature park
Location	Green Creek Township, Sandusky County, Ohio, United States (located near Green Springs)
Coordinates	41°16′21″N 83°3′31″W
Area	27 acres (1,176,000 sq. ft., 358,444.8 m2)
Opened	1953
Closed	2006
Owned by	Whirlpool Corporation (1953-2008); Grist Mill Creek, LLC (2008-present)
Status	Defunct; now privately owned property

Whirlpool Park was a park located close to Green Springs, Ohio that was owned by the Whirlpool Corporation. Whirlpool Park was proximal to the town of Clyde, in which there exists a large Whirlpool plant. The park was designated for employees of that plant, but park admission policies were very lenient. Whirlpool Park was opened in 1953 and was closed in 2006. Since the property was closed, its status as a recreational park ceased, and has not since been reinstated. Two years later, in 2008, the property was sold to the Abdoo family, who lives in Fremont and still currently owns the property. Furthermore, the property is now private, and does not allow public access. The park had several playground equipment items and other man-made features, some of which still exist inside the property today.

The property received media attention in February of 2012, after polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a hazardous substance, were discovered under the soil of the property by United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigators. The property was investigated because tipsters to a hotline set up by the EPA alleged that they saw toxic sludge and drums being dumped and buried there in the 1950s, around the time that the park was opened. The existence of PCBs on the property during this time is often cited as a probable cause of the Clyde cancer cluster, though this opinion is disputed.

Whirlpool Corporation faced two class-action lawsuits over the findings at the Whirlpool Park property. The lawsuits were both dropped due to a lack of sufficient evidence. However, in 2013, Whirlpool agreed to clean up the property, and did by 2015.

Geography

The property is located in Green Creek Township in Sandusky County, just north of the village of Green Springs. It is located along County Road 187, also known as Whirlpool Road, and Shaw Road, or East County Road 181.

Green Creek, a tributary to the Sandusky River, runs through the property. Several ponds exist on the property, one of which provided water for the swimming pool.

Contents

The "no trespassing" signs on a gate of the current property

At least when the property was Whirlpool Park, the property had a swimming pool, a playground slide, a swingset, a picnic area, and a basketball court. The playground slide and the support beams of the old swingset, with the swings detached, can still be seen from outside the property. In the same general area of the property, there are also large piles of cement rocks and other material pieces. However, the fence, the tall grass, and the trees on the property may likely block a person's view of the area from the outside.

Since the area is now private property, it is closed to the public; the property is fenced and the gate is locked. Several "no trespassing" signs can be seen around the property. Video surveillance cameras were even installed on the property by the current owners to enforce this policy.

History

Before Whirlpool bought the property in 1953, it was privately owned. Company records indicate that the swimming pool at the park had existed there since 1930, 23 years before Whirlpool bought the property.

Shortly after the Whirlpool Corporation bought the Clyde Porcelain Steel factory in Clyde in 1952, which would become the current Whirlpool factory, Whirlpool bought the Whirlpool Park property in 1953. Mostly during the 1950s, Whirlpool employees visited the property numerous times to construct and add various features to the property, such as the playground equipment and the basketball court. Whirlpool Park was originally intended to be used by Whirlpool employees and their families, but the policies on admission became lenient enough to allow even friends of employees to visit the park. Some even considered Whirlpool Park a community park, since almost no one who came to the park was formally dismissed. The park was visited regularly for over 50 years by various locals, who used it recreationally.

Whirlpool closed the park in 2006. Jonathan and Robert Abdoo, who live in the nearby city of Fremont, bought the property in 2008 for $212,000. The Abdoos started a small land development business that year as well called Grist Mill Creek, LLC, and were planning to build at least one house on the property under that title. The Abdoos cancelled these plans in 2012, after the EPA had discovered pollution on the property that was unknown to them before that time.

Since 2006, the property was never reinstated as a park. The Abdoos have owned the property since 2008, and it has remained private and inaccessible to the public.

Pollution

barrell dirt testing done

Public opinion

Though PCBs were indeed found on the Whirlpool Park property, and it is generally agreed that PCBs are an agent that can cause cancer, opinion is divided as to whether this was a cause of the Clyde cancer cluster. Also, though most have stated the belief that Whirlpool employees dumped PCBs on the property, rather than some other party, no documentation to prove this has ever been publicized.

Warren Brown, a politician and cancer research activist from Clyde whose daughter, Alexa Brown, died of cancer in 2009, at first stated that he disagreed that the PCBs at Whirlpool Park were a cause, saying that he "can't see a correlation there since Green Creek isn't part of the drinking water system of Clyde." Brown later stated, however, that he wanted to wait until more information was gathered about the situation before expressing a similar opinion in the future.

A woman who lived near the property had contracted cancer at some point in life, as well as her dog, who died from the cancer. This is considered by many not to be a mere coincidence, and has been used as supporting evidence of the connection.

Alan Mortensen, an attorney on the side of the prosecution in Brown v. Whirlpool Corporation, stated that his firm had no doubt whatsoever that Whirlpool employees dumped the PCBs. Mortensen also stated that other dump sites besides the park deserved further investigation than they received.

The allegations of those representing the Whirlpool Corporation tended to be in favor of the corporation. In a November 14, 2012 letter sent to several news station, Dan O'Brien, the leader of the Whirlpool plant in Clyde at the time, stated that "it is important to understand, that we truly believe there is no current exposure risk posed by this substance. As stated in USEPA materials, PCBs are a very stable substance that does not readily migrate, and the use and disposal of PCBs was a common practice, and within the laws and standards of the 1950s and 1960s." Whirlpool spokespeople also denied that they had any knowledge of the park's contamination until it was discovered by the EPA in 2012.

What were the PCBs used for?NoelMortensen

References

Category:1953 establishments in Ohio Category:2006 disestablishments in Ohio