FORT WAYNE, Ind. (ADAMS) – A local author with a passion for Fort Wayne history has a new book on our city parks.
22-year-old history author Joshua Schipper’s latest offering dissects the history and names of each of the 87 city parks in Fort Wayne.
The book, Strolling through Fort Wayne’s Parks, is quickly climbing the Amazon new US History releases chart and will be released in local bookstores in mid-December.
The 300+ page volume is a park-by-park analysis complete with dozens of quirky quotes, mind-blowing stories, and historic photos.
Schipper’s research made an impact on one particular park well before the book’s online release.
After analyzing old newspaper clippings and the gravestones of the donors, he realized that Sieling Park had been misspelled as “Seiling” for around 60 years. After presenting his evidence to the Parks and Recreation Department, the park signage soon changed to reflect the correct spelling.
This new book also features a checkbox at the end of each section so that people can make a plan to visit and experience the beauty of every city park in Fort Wayne.
This is his second book, a follow-up to his 2020 debut book, Paving through Fort Wayne’s Streets, which gave faces to the many street names of the Summit City. This book reached #199 on national US History best-sellers and was ranked #4 in non-fiction books by the Allen County Public Library.