Mill Race Park in Columbus, Indiana, sits at the confluence of the Flat Rock and Driftwood rivers, where they meet to form the East Fork of the White River. For decades, this low ground, once known as “Death Valley,” endured poverty, poor housing, and frequent floods. The city began purchasing the land in 1963, setting in motion a long transformation that replaced blight with a public landscape shaped to work with the water rather than against it.
By the early 1990s, a redesign by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates had reoriented the park around resilience. Elevated structures, concrete paths, and a sculpted amphitheater made from on-site fill reflected a thoughtful response to the floodplain. Two lakes, looping drives, riverfront trails, and an 84-foot observation tower created a setting that blended open space with quiet, deliberate design.
Mill Race Park near sunset.
At the park’s center is its most striking feature, the Brownsville Covered Bridge. Built between 1837 and 1840 by Adam Mason and his father, the original span crossed the Whitewater River and showcased Stephen H. Long’s pioneering Long-truss system, a lattice of boxed X-shapes that represented one of the earliest mathematically engineered wooden trusses. After more than a century of service, the bridge was dismantled and later rebuilt at Eagle Creek Park in Indiana, and then in Columbus following the 1985 arson that destroyed the previous park bridge. Its dedication in 1986 marked the rebirth of a rare surviving example of early American engineering.
Today, the bridge, pond, and river trails form the core of Mill Race Park. Visitors can walk along shaded paths, past fishing spots, playgrounds, and picnic shelters, while the tower offers broad views of the rivers and downtown. What had once been a flood-scarred pocket of the city had become one of its most graceful public landscapes.
