Ever since 1884 the hundred-acre green space of John Ball Zoo and John Ball Park on the west side of Grand Rapids has served as the city's primary public nature destination. The park and zoo are named for John Ball, a pioneer settler who arrived in Grand Rapids in 1836 and taught the community's first school classes in his own home before donating land and energy to dozens of civic causes. The zoo itself began with a small animal collection donated to the city and has grown into an accredited institution housing more than a thousand animals.
But the park surrounding it is as significant as the zoo — the rolling terrain, the pond, the mature trees, the connection to the west side neighborhood — creating a democratic green space that serves the working-class families of the neighborhood in the same way Central Park serves Manhattan. John Ball Park is also the venue for summer festivals, a sledding hill in winter, and the informal gathering place of west side life. The view from the park's ridge, looking east toward downtown, captures Grand Rapids in a single glance: the steeples, the skyline, the river, and the streets connecting them.