WISNER PARK
Elmira, NY

isner Park in the center of Elmira's downtown has been the site of many a gathering where famous politicians and celebrities visited the city. In 1896, the Park was the setting for an open air meeting at which William Jennings Bryan spoke to an overflow crowd when he was running against William McKinley for president.

In 1954, General Douglas McArthur came to Elmira to take up his association with Remington Rand. And Robert F. Kennedy visited Elmira in 1964 when he campaigned for the U.S. Senate. Governor Franklin D. Roosevelt came to the Park to address the crowds several times in the late Twenties where he told of plans for a great motor parkway connecting New York City and Buffalo, laid out in as direct a line as possible and running through Elmira. *

The photo above is from a popular early 1900s postcard showing Wisner Park on a Sunday afternoon when families gathered with their children after church. Trinity Church is peeking through the trees in the left of the photo. The bandstand is at the edge of the sidewalk to your right.

Today Wisner Park is the home of the Red Popcorn Truck!

* source - Chemung Valley Historical Museum records

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