Anchorage Assembly to take up renaming Eagle River Commons Park for homestead family

Assembly Chair Anna Brawley and Member Donald Handeland will bring a proposal to rename Eagle River Commons Park as Pippel's Field Park to the Anchorage Assembly on Wednesday, with a public hearing set for Dec. 1. Handeland represents Chugiak, Eagle River and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

The name would honor Walter and Melva Pippel, Matanuska colonists who bought a 160-acre Eagle River homestead from Lars Nyberg in 1944, according to a Chugiak-Eagle River Historical Society packet. Their farm grew potatoes, cabbage, lettuce and other crops for Anchorage markets and the military bases. The farm covered land that is now Business Boulevard and the surrounding subdivisions in downtown Eagle River.

The field also had ball fields, which gave Centerfield Drive its name, and hang gliders landed there after taking off from Mt. Baldy. In 1959 part of the potato barn housed the volunteer fire department's truck.

Walter farmed until he had a stroke in the 1960s, and the field west of the Old Glenn Highway became an informal park residents called Pippel's Field. Walter died in 1969, and Melva later sold the land.

The historical society first proposed renaming the adjacent Eagle River Town Square Park, then switched after community feedback to Commons Park, an open park with a playground and picnic areas that sits within the old Pippel farm.

Eagle River's parks board and community council both backed the change, and the city's Public Naming Commission voted 5-0 on Oct. 14 to recommend it. A memo from Commission Chair Darrel Hess cites the family's ties to the area since the 1930s and the decades residents have called the place Pippel's Field.

Eagle River resident Doris Thomas wrote in support, adding, "My only concern is that folks are likely to mispronounce it and call it the 'People's Park.'"

Assembly approval would make the name official. Residents can testify at the hearing in person or by phone, or send written comments online.