Creston Park
Creston Park still existed when I was a child. It was a beautiful, peaceful shady spot where I liked to sit during the summer after a long walk. Even in the middle of August when most other grass was brown this park was lush and wet. The park contained two ponds with a small bridge that crossed one of the two creeks that flowed into it. One creek (Carrier Creek) from the east and Coldbrook from the south. I used to like to try to catch a snapping turtle but never quite did. I still have all my fingers.
It was across the street from Mary Waters Park, St. John's Orphanage, St. Alphonsus Roman Catholic Church and East Leonard Public School. There was some type of small Dutch Reformed Church nearby maybe Creston Christian which moved out farther east on Leonard Street. I don't have a picture of the park only a map.
As you can see Lafayette Avenue did not yet go through at the time this map was drawn while the platted street Holcomb was vacated. It was impractical to run a street through a pond. This became a park because it was a natural drainage basin for the North End. Until it was turned into a public housing project for forced integration. Now it's a very damp home for poor people who can live in a swamp to achieve integration while the whole North End floods every spring. Stupid.
From Article: Parks
From Heading History and the City of GrandRapids
From web site: MyCityofGrandRapids.info