Muscatine, a Center for World Peace?
by Lori Carroll
August 16, 2019

A small but growing group of Muscatine residents has been meeting on a regular basis for almost a year, making plans to convince the Muscatine City Council to approve its idea to use the now-vacant “Carver Corner” (at the intersection of Hershey Avenue/Grandview Avenue/Green Street) to build a World Peace Park. The park would be dedicated to honoring the work and ideas of the late C. Maxwell Stanley and the late Catherine Miller, both influential Muscatine residents of the 20th century.


 The group, which now calls itself the World Peace Park Advisory Board, approached the City Council with the idea for the Peace Park several months ago at an in-depth meeting, and is continuing to develop and refine the design and possible uses. Initially, the Advisory Board intended to submit an RFP to the city for the property, but recently decided that its ideas and goals would not fit into the RFP form as written by the city. Instead, they submitted a letter indicating what they hope to do on the property (and why), along with a letter from Terry Eagle, director of the National Pearl Button Museum, and a letter from Louis D’Amore, director of the International Institute for Peace through Tourism. Both additional letter writers shared their belief that the World Peace Park would only add to the unique tourist attractions already in Muscatine.


 The Advisory Board hopes that the Peace Park will be the centerpiece of a “Peace Village,” which could encompass many of the properties in the area of Carver Corner and be the catalyst not only to improve the appearance of the whole area, but also to increase property values.
 Life-long Muscatine resident Dick Maeglin has described his idea like this:


  Muscatine has had a rich and productive history involving several world-class manufacturing industries; however, we can no longer count on new industries locating in Muscatine and providing new jobs and workers who support Muscatine’s economy … however, we have a unique position on the Mississippi River, with a beautiful – but not quite finished – riverfront. A park dedicated to world peace that promotes the thoughts and work done by Mr. Stanley and Miss Miller could be a way to meaningfully finish the riverfront, and to draw tourists from around the state, the country, and even the world.
 Those who are interested in supporting or otherwise getting involved are encouraged to email the Advisory Board

at muscatinepeacepark@gmail.com, and to connect on Facebook by searching Muscatine World Peace Park.

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