Rogers Family Park

The 31.5-acre property known as the "goat farm" was donated to the Bloomington Parks Foundation by the Sherman Rogers family in 2007 with the provision that it be used for publicly accessible recreation and greenspace. The park is home to a barn and silo (not open to the public) and a five-acre restored native prairie.

Arbor Day

Celebrate Arbor Day in Indiana on the last Friday in April and continue Bloomington's tree-planting tradition!

Friday, April 24 from 9 a.m.-noon at Rogers Family Park

Assist Parks and Recreation urban forestry staff as they plant trees along the Jackson Creek Trail, and take home a free tree seedling while supplies last. Tree planting volunteers will help dig and widen holes to plant balled and burlapped trees, move trees into planting position, and spread mulch. Volunteers ages 14 yrs. and older are welcome! 

Gloves and shovels are provided; meet at the red barn at Rogers Family Park. Vehicle parking is available inside the entrance to Rogers Family Park south of the Winslow-High-Rogers roundabout. Additional vehicle parking is available at Sherwood Oaks Park and at Olcott Park.

Volunteer to plant trees on Arbor Day!

Quick Park Information

• Features: Jackson Creek Trail runs north-to-south through Rogers Family Park. A .23-mile, asphalt surface trail crosses Jackson Creek and connects Rogers Family Park and Sherwood Oaks Park to Olcott Park via the Jackson Creek Trail. More information about the Jackson Creek Trail.
• Restrooms: No restroom facilities. The nearest park restroom is at Olcott Park. A drinking fountain, available seasonally, is located at Sherwood Oaks Park between the playground and tennis court.
• Parking: Paver-surface vehicle parking with six spaces and four designated handicap accessible spaces is located at the north end of Rogers Family Park. The entrance to Rogers Family Park is at the south exit of the Winslow/High/Rogers traffic roundabout. Additional asphalt-surface parking for 14 vehicles is available at Sherwood Oaks Park on the south end of Rogers Family Park. More information and directions to Sherwood Oaks Park. 
• Bloomington Transit: #5 stops at Jackson Creek Middle School, at the intersection of East Rogers Road and The Stands, and at Childs Elementary School. Bus route maps and schedules.

Public Art

A public art piece titled "FLEET/ing" by local artist Jonathan Racek was selected by the Bloomington Arts Commission for installation at Rogers Family Park. The art piece is constructed of powder-coated steel tubes and brackets and stands 12 feet wide, 18 ½ feet long, and 10 feet high. The piece is "nimble and quick in its simplified movement and a comment on the transient nature of life, growth and decay depicted in a gradient of colors." It is located just east of the red barn.

Rogers Family Park Dedication - August 2023

Parks and Recreation Department hosted a dedication and ribbon cutting in August 2023 to celebrate the completion of the Rogers Family Park project. The improvements to the park included new walking paths and boardwalks, a permeable paver parking lot, new seating areas, and exterior improvements to the barn. All the improvements were all made possible by a generous donation from the Sherman and Meredith Rogers Family. The donation also commissioned the public art piece 'FLEET/ing'. 

Rogers Family Park project

In addition to donating the property for the park, the Rogers family donated an additional $1 million to fund improvements to the park.

About a dozen people attended a public meeting in April 2021 to provide feedback on preliminary design concepts, and in November 2021 the final design concepts were presented at an open house at the park.

In August 2022, a construction contract totaling $643,460 was awarded to Scenic Construction Services at the Board of Park Commissioners meeting. A separate $110,000 contract was awarded to make exterior repairs to the barn and silo, including new roof, siding, soffit, and gutters. At the completion of construction in spring 2023, the park was rededicated as Rogers Family Park. 

Native Prairie & Ecological Preservation

In 2017, in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the first five-acre section of native prairie replaced a field of fescue on the north end of Rogers Family Park. Since then, the prairie has been managed through the removal of woody plants and invasive species and periodic mowing. A five-acre expansion of the native prairie was planned as part of the Rogers Family Park improvement project in 2022.

A prairie that includes a diversity of plant species is beneficial to pollinators, or animals that move pollen from one part of the flower of a plant to another part. Common pollinator species include bees, hummingbirds, butterflies, spiders, flies, and wasps. In addition to the native prairie, the park provides multiple benefits for wildlife. Chimney swift and bluebird boxes provide nesting habitat, and prairie plants help strain flood debris and improve water quality in Jackson Creek. Parks and Recreation uses best management practices to maintain protective vegetation on the banks of Jackson Creek, which runs along the eastern edge of the property.