Silver Springs Park, the heart of the community, was established in 1918 on land known as the Fairbanks Pasture, originally owned by Jonathan Fairbanks, superintendent of Springfield Public Schools in the early 1900s. On Easter Eve, 1906, Fairbanks opened his home as a safe place for black residents frightened by an unruly mob that had lynched three black men on the town square. During segregation, Silver Springs was the city's only public park designated for black residents and hosted various sports leagues, including semi-pro baseball. The WPA built fieldstone retaining walls and the first Silver Springs Pool, and lined the creek channel with rock in the 1930s. Since the early 1950s, Silver Springs Park has been home to the annual Park Day Reunion, celebrated with a parade, beauty pageant, concerts and a barbeque picnic on the first weekend in August.
