Photo and description courtesy of the Chelsea Area Historical Society. “Alma Jane Pierce, granddaughter of Chelsea pioneer, Nathan Pierce, was born September 16, 1856. She lived her entire life in Chelsea.She was 93 years old at the time of her death on January 19, 1950. Miss Alma Pierce, one of twelve children of Hiram and Catherine Pierce, never married. When she was about twenty years old she taught at Merkel School on Heim road. In 1916, she moved from the family’s 400-acre farm at the South end of Chelsea into town. Alma Jane Pierce donated two acres of the historic family farm to the city of Chelsea in 1948 for a public Park.She also established a trust for the perpetual care of the Pierce Cemetery, which her great-nieces, Lois Lantis, Shirley Walker, and Betty Ingram continue to support.”

Pierce Park, May 2011. Photo by Jim Hammel.

See how Pierce Park has changed over time, in this side-by-side comparison of the CAHS photo and the recent photo taken by library volunteer Jim Hammel.