This .5-acre neighborhood park is located in the Rose Village Neighborhood of Northwest Vancouver just south of I-5. The park opened in 2022 and features a space-themed playground.
The park is named after Ida Bell Jones, a matriarch of the post-World War II African American community in Vancouver. Born in 1908 outside of Blackwell, Arkansas, she moved to Vancouver at age 34 to follow the economic opportunity created by the newly opened Kaiser Shipyards in 1942.
Ida Bell Jones and her family settled in the area now known as Rose Village. She was quick to establish roots in both Vancouver and North Portland and was a founding member of the Vancouver Avenue First Baptist Church in Portland and active in the Vancouver branch of the NAACP. Her community building efforts to create trusted networks of support on both sides of the river made it possible for Black families to find work and establish roots in Vancouver, despite the racism and discrimination they faced.
Ida Bell Jones died in 2018, at the age of 109. She was known for her warm smile, positive attitude and acceptance for all people who crossed her path.
*Photo by City of Vancouver
