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KITSELMAN TRAILHEAD
2000-ONGOING
Muncie, IN
The Kitselman Trailhead reclaims a once fragmented industrial landscape as a symbolic riverfront city gateway, blending adaptive reuse, cultural interpretation, and trail design to reconnect Muncie to the White River and greater trail networks.
FlatLand Resources has acted as the Project Directors since 2000 being charged with orchestrating the implementation of a 25-year community effort to transform blighted brownfield properties into a celebrated quality of place greenfield
PROJECT BACKGROUND
Kitselman Trailhead is a gateway into Muncie, connecting neighborhoods, regional trails, and the White River. The project grew from trail discussions that began in the early 1990s and gained momentum through Ball State University’s Landscape Architecture Design Week.
The site combined a busy highway approach, contaminated industrial land, and a complicated river crossing, so safety and access had to guide the design. DAVID RUBIN Land Collective and Flatland Resources worked with Ball State students to develop a vision that became the final master plan.
The plan links trails, improves river access, creates gathering and interpretive spaces, and restores habitat. Its central feature repurposes a bridge built by the historic Indiana Bridge Company, turning a remnant of Muncie’s industrial past into a public connection across the river.
HWC Engineering led construction documentation and inspection. Implemented in phases, the trailhead is transforming a contaminated industrial corridor into a safer, more welcoming place that connects people to the river and to the wider trail system.
Over the last 30 plus years, the people at FlatLand have helped the Ball Brothers Foundation (through some of our grantees) implement complex multi-year projects. In the case of the Kitsleman Trailhead, FlatLand has shepherded an infantile thought of joining two pedestrian trails separated by the White River into reality. To say that this project has been complex is an understatement. The notion of transforming an abandoned concretized heavy industrial armpit in our community into a beautiful green place that people can enjoy is the result of FlatLand’s tireless commitment.
- Jud Fisher, President & Chief Executive Officer Ball Brothers Foundation
PROJECT PERSONNEL
PHIL
project lead
+project manager
SITE FEATURES
KITSELMEN TRAIL HEAD AND PARK
KITSELMAN TRAIL HEAD AND PARK
GATHERING STEPS
KITSELMAN BRIDGE
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