Anna Howard Shaw Memorial Park

Anna Howard Shaw Memorial Park sits on the northwest side of the Big Rapids Community Library at 428 S. Michigan Avenue, built around a sculpture of the suffrage leader who grew up near Big Rapids before becoming the first woman ordained in the Methodist Protestant Church and a licensed physician. The statue anchors a quiet seating area where visitors can pull a title from the adjacent Phelps Little Free Library and read in the shade. The rest of the grounds function as a literacy playground designed around early childhood development. A Picture Book Walk turns a stroll down the park path into a full storybook, and a set of oversized musical instruments lets kids act out rhythm and rhyme instead of just hearing about it. A finger painting station and "Talking Tubes" round out the hands-on pieces, each tied to a specific stage of language development: singing, writing, talking, and play. Locals return for the rotating Picture Book Walk story, and families visiting the library often extend their stop into the park rather than treating it as a separate errand. The playground was funded through a partnership of the City of Big Rapids, the Friends of the Big Rapids Community Library, TransCanada, and a DNR Passport Grant, along with individual donors. Parking is available on site, and the park is an easy walk from downtown Big Rapids, making it a natural stop for visitors combining a library visit with time outdoors.