Little Turtle Waterway Plaza was conceived and built to provide public access to the Wabash River, serve as the trailhead park for the future Lail system in Logansport and Cass County, provide instruments to help interpret local history, and provide a staging area for local events. Its original master plan was written and drawn up in 1988 with $36,000 appropriated by the Logansport City Council from the Eastgate Property Fund, and Rundell Associates served as landscape architects throughout the work. Conrail donated 4.75 acres for the public park to the Little Turtle Waterway Corporation in 1991. The land lies between the railroad right-of-way and the Wabash River, with the confluence of the rivers four blocks to the west and the intersection of the railroad lines two blocks to the east, and its deed specifies that it cannot be conveyed for profits. The gateway is an old railroad signal bridge from the Pennsylvania RR track where it crossed old US 24 West; it was removed, rehabilitated, and placed here in 1993 by Leo Brown Construction at a cost of $50,900 paid with a grant from the Build Indiana Fund. Public hearings, surveys, environmental assessments, design development, construction documents, and title insurance were paid for with $166,851 in Build Indiana funds. Ceremonial groundbreaking took place on February 14, 1998. Construction of the plaza was finished in the spring of 1999 and was paid for with $1,126,233 from the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act and $281,558 from Build Indiana funds. Milestone Contractors built the project, completing it $51,545 under budget. In 1999, the Little Turtle Waterway Corporation presented the finished plaza to the Logansport Board of Parks and Recreation with a deed restriction that the triangle between the gateway and the overlook walls remain flat, without permanent structures or statues besides the future statue of Chief Little Turtle. Resolution 97-8 of the Logansport Board of Parks and Recreation stated that so long as there was sufficient money in the maintenance fund, there would be no change in the concept or design of the plaza. The Little Turtle Waterway Plaza Maintenance Endowment Fund can receive donations at the Cass County Community Foundation, and profits from brick sales also go toward maintenance. Sets of as-built drawings are stored with the Parks Department, the Mayor's office, and the Logansport Municipal Utilities office. A pedestrian crossing was built in 2002 with $128,000 from the Lilly Endowment Inc., following a recommendation from the Northern Indiana Community Foundation in 1998. Senator Tom Weatherwax negotiated with Conrail for the donation of the land, secured $500,000 of Build Indiana funds, and helped smooth obstacles to the project's completion. Jim Brugh donated many hours of legal work from March 1996 through June 2001 in a lawsuit with successive railroad owners who opposed the pedestrian crossing across their right-of-way. The Miami Tribe of Indians of Indiana provided counsel, patience, support, and ceremonial dedication of the plaza on May 29, 1999, and the site was entrusted to the Logansport Board of Parks and Recreation, the citizens of Logansport and Cass County, and all who use and enjoy it to protect this gift.