PETZNICK’S GROVE

Before Creston had, it’s beautiful McKinley Park, hundreds of people spent many happy hours at Petznick’s Grove.  They walked out or came in buggies and hacks.   They would gather flowers, pick gooseberries, collect nuts and dig small trees.  Fred Petznick had only one request and that was that the gate be kept closed.

Gottfried (Fred) Petznick, his brother Charles and their father Karl came to New York from Germany.   They decided to take the railroad as far west as they could and landed in Cromwell, Iowa in 1869.  None of the group could speak English.  The boys hired out to area farmers and soon learned English.  Fred saved his earnings and soon bought 40 acres of land in section 14 of Highland Township.  Over the years, Fred added more parcels to his farm.  In 1879, Fred married Mary Kirkpatrick, and they had a son William and daughter Queenie. 

Many clubs, churches and organizations held picnics at Petznick’s Grove from the 1880s until about 1949. Fred died in 1943 at the age of 91.