HomeMy WebLinkAboutPickart Estates Parkland DedicationOshkosh Common Council
Parks Advisory Board
Ray Maurer, Parks Director
To Whom it May Concern:
It is our wish to have the park currently listed as Parkland B located on Ninth Street, part of Pickart
Estates, named after our family as Pickart Park. I have attached a summary of the history of the Pickart
family farm. As indicated in the summary, the Pickart name has been associated with the land located
on the corner of Ninth and Clairville Road for over 100 years.
With the donation of land for a park in Pickart Estates, K & P Development and the Pickart family have
positively contributed to furthering the development of the City of Oshkosh and also improved the
quality of life for those living in the immediate and future adjacent neighborhoods.
It is our hope that everyone living in the development and the surrounding area could enjoy use of the
park for years to come. The naming of the park would ensure a legacy for the descendants of the
Pickart family as well.
A History of the Pickart Family Farm
In 1912, John and Mary Pickart purchased the eighty-acre dairy farm west of Oshkosh that
would be their home and the home of their descendants to the present day.
Over the next four decades, through World Wars and the financial hardship of the Great
Depression, they raised their five children among the apple trees and sunshine of their farm. John
and Mary planted corn, oats, and hay. They maintained a herd of twenty dairy cows and kept
chickens as well as pigs.
Their oldest son, Anton, purchased the farm from his parents in 1951. He and his wife Cecilia
brought up four children on the family land. These children, James, Robert, Paul, and Mary
helped the farm operate during their youth. Their contributions are memorialized in the names of
several Pickart Estate roads. After Anton retired due to severe health issues in early 1968,
Cecilia, James, Robert (who had just returned from serving in the United States Army), Paul, and
Mary worked together to keep the family farm operational.
Shortly thereafter, Paul purchased part of his parent’s land, took over the dairy operation, and,
with the rest of the family, continued to build the Pickart family legacy. Paul and Robert married
and built homes on the family homestead. Their children were the third generation of Pickarts to
grow up on the land purchased by John and Mary.
The State of Wisconsin certified the Pickart Family Farm as a Century Farm, and the governor
presented the certification at the Wisconsin State Fair in 2013. In 2018, seeking to contribute to
the continuing growth of Oshkosh, Paul and his siblings began the process of creating the
subdivision of Pickart Estates.