TR PHOTO BY LOGAN METZGER West End Park is a nice size park ready to serve a growing community. It has amenities ranging from a bathrooms to baby swings.

Editor’s note: This twice weekly series will spotlight some of Marshalltown’s 22 parks. Parks are a way for families to enjoy the outdoors without leaving the city and a way for the city to bring the outdoors to families.

West End Park is 4.3 acres and provides a place to play in its growing community.

“It was one of the parks hit by the tornado,” Geoff Hubbard, director of Marshalltown Parks and Recreation, said.

During the tornado the open air shelter was damaged. Now all that remains are the stumps of the support beams and the concrete slab it was on.

Marshalltown Parks and Recreation is working with the 13th Street District to put in a new shelter which will include a concession building, restrooms and room enough for people to rent it out. The shelter will have an amphitheater feel to it so bands could use it for concerts.

But for now, there are still other amenities in West End Park. These include bike racks, a larger parking lot and a ramp making the park accessible to those with wheelchairs or those who cannot use stairs. It also has a grill, picnic tables and a large amount of green space that makes the park perfect for picnics or birthday parties.

The park has bathroom facilities.

For play space, West End Park has two play areas with varied types of equipment. These include various slides and monkey bars, baby swings, regular swings, a teeter totter and a gravel scoop. There is also a baseball diamond which families can use for a game or kids can practice before a big game.

A unique amenity is the futsal courts, which were converted from the old tennis courts.

“We are one of the few in Iowa that have these types of courts,” Hubbard said.

West End Park is located at 220 N. 13th St.

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Contact Logan Metzger at

641-753-6611 or

lmetzger@timesrepublican.com