Then and Now: Boyd Park, a Playground for Skaters
When the winter weather is crisp and clear there’s nothing quite like strapping on your skates and gliding across an outdoor ice skating rink with your friends. That’s what these boys were ready to do in this photo of Eau Claire’s Boyd Park from sometime in the 1950s.
The city still floods the middle of Boyd Park to create an ice skating rink each winter, but a lot of other things around the neighborhood have changed. For example, some of the kids in this picture probably attended Boyd School across Main Street from the park. However, Boyd School closed in 2002 and was replaced by Flynn School a few blocks away. (The old school is now home to residential condominiums.)
Likewise, the U.S. Rubber Co. tire plant – shown in the distance across the Eau Claire River – is now called Banbury Place as if filled without dozens of shops, offices, and art studios.
What else do you think has changed in the neighborhood? What has changed about how kids dress in the winter over the past 60 years?
