NEW LONDON, Wis. - The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the William H. Hatten Recreation Park in New London on the State Register of Historic Places. The park lies south of the Wolf River at the western edge of New London. It was added to the State Register on May 24, 2024. State Historic Preservation Officer Daina Penkiunas presented a certificate to Christine Cross and Ginger Sowle.

The city purchased the 110-acre parcel in 1935 and Hatten Park was largely developed by 1942 using funds from the federal government’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) relief program. Additional facilities were added or altered into the mid-1980s to accommodate recreational programs.

Hatten Park embodies the efforts of citizens to improve the city’s setting and to create public parks for recreation. It is an excellent and intact example of a “recreational facility” park with its swimming pool, bathhouse, tennis courts and athletic fields. At Hatten Park, these facilities are overlaid with a Drive and Trail System that provides access through extensive areas of woods and wetlands preserved in a natural state, which are unusual components in a municipal park of its era. The combination makes Hatten Park unique in New London, and perhaps in Wisconsin. 

Additional information for the William H. Hatten Recreation Park is available at

https://wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI245647

To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: www.wisconsinhistory.org.

About the Wisconsin Historical Society

The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.