Hiking Highlight for June 4: Moore Memorial Park

JILL O'BRIEN/Iowa State Daily

Moore Memorial Park is home to 1.5 miles of paved trails, 16 acres of prairie grass and a 1.3 acre pond.

Jill O'Brien

There’s ‘Moore’ to north Ames than the North Grand Mall and several neighborhoods – that is, if you look for it.  

Tucked away in a neighborhood off of Northridge Parkway, Moore Memorial Park is home to 1.5 miles of paved trails, 16 acres of prairie grass and a 1.3 acre pond.

The park was named for Fern and Bertha Moore, who owned and operated a dairy farm northwest of Ames, according to the Ames Historical Society. Bertha Moore came to the U.S. form the Netherlands in 1914 and became a nurse, and Fern Moore graduated from Iowa State in 1925 and was part of a national champion dairy judging team.

The Moores donated a 90 acre tract of land to the city for the park in 1987, and plans for the park were drawn up in 1988.