October 27, 2025
Foundations associated with Ahrens Park in early 2025 announced a gift of a portion of Ahrens Park to the school district as the site of the new elementary school if the Physical Plant and Equipment Levy vote passed in March. The voters approved the levy, and negotiations on the gift began. School board members at their Oct. 22 meeting voted unanimously to accept the gift as outlined in an agreement between the foundations and the district.
Julie Gosselink of the Claude W. and Dolly Ahrens Foundation and Chad Nath of the Ahrens Park Foundation attended the meeting, and Beames gave them a vase of flowers “as a small token of our appreciation.”
Beames said she has been in public education her entire life and has never before experienced “such a generous gift that re-directed the position of a school district” as the Ahrens gift did.
Board Member Laurel Tuggle Lacina said that, looking back, the facilities discussion in the district had included “disappointments and strife” but, with the generous Ahrens gift, the district has “arrived where it was supposed to be” with a solution for the school site that no one could have dreamed of.
Board President Chris Starrett told Gosselink and Nath that “this incredible gift will play a vital role in supporting the continued growth and success of our district. These facilities will be utilized to enhance educational opportunities and serve the future needs of our students, staff and the community for generations to come.” Quoting the advice of Claude Ahrens to “leave it better than you found it,” he told Gosselink and Nath that “you are truly leaving it better than you found it, and we hope we can do the same.”
“We are excited for the land grant to take place,” said Gosselink afterwards. “We are excited to have a new elementary school next to the park and for the benefits it will bring to students, teachers and all Grinnellians.”
Nath, president of the Ahrens Park Foundation, noted that the gift to the district consisted of 38.58 acres of the original park and that the park continues with the remaining 41.58 acres. The dividing line, he said, is mostly the walking path that curves around the Ahrens Family Center with land and buildings to its north and west given to the district and land to the south and east remaining in the park.
The exception, he continued, is that the building housing the foundation and district offices remains a part of the park. Also still part of the park are the eight baseball and softball fields and the baseball-softball concession stand and storage shed, the three shelter houses and the flagpole building with the restrooms, both playgrounds, the sand volleyball and tennis and basketball courts, and the dog park.
The district land includes the soccer fields, proposed site for the new Grinnell Athletic and Recreation Center, the building housing the Grinnell Community Early Learning Center, the driving range and field of school and some of the walking path that surrounded the original park. Nath says he understands the district plans retain the walking path, driving range and native planting areas for public access.
Current plans are for the Ahrens Park Foundation and district to share staff to maintain the portions owned by each, according to Nath who adds that the park foundation has “a whole slew of projects” being planned for the park. Commenting that, after the gift was announced, he heard people asserting that one amenity or another was going to be eliminated, Nath asked people to check facts before making assumptions about what is taking place in the park and on district land.
“We are trying to help Grinnell grow and be the community we can all continue to enjoy and thrive in well into the future,” Nath says. “We’re here to try to help. We’re trying to leave it better than we found it. That has always been the goal.”
– Written by the Grinnell Herald-Register
