From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for July 22, 1973:

Lawrence city commissioners this week decided not to purchase land north of Sixth Street between Tennessee and Kentucky for a park. City Manager Buford Watson had reported that the land was available for about $100,000 and that the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Co. was willing to lease the remaining land connecting with the Kansas River. However, Mayor Nancy Hambleton had urged commissioners to place higher priority on other possible purchases, such as the former Bowersock Mills east of the Kansas River bridge and north of Sixth, which had recently been purchased by Kansas Fibreboard, Inc. Watson argued that it was a better use of money to link Central Park with the river and to create the possibility of future connection with riverfront land further to the west by the city water plant.