Conservation Portraits

Balfour Riverwalk Park - Attleboro, MA

The front of the former 175,000 square foot Balfour Company is seen here along County Street. As you can see from the photograph, the building had an imposing façade as it directly abutted the street. The vacant factory building along with parking lots occupied nearly the entire 3.1-acre site and it completely hid the Ten Mile River from view. The site was acquired and developed with Urban Self-Help Program funds.

By using the "25 MPH Speed Limit" sign as a reference point between the before picture on the upper right and the after picture below, one can see the dramatic transformation - and without seeing the Balfour Riverwalk in person, one can only imagine the dramatic impact the verdant green has made not only in downtown Attleboro, but throughout this old, mill community.

The Balfour Riverwalk, a completely ADA compliant recreational facility, has a variety of amenities that serves children, teenagers, adults, and senior citizens alike - from a quarter-mile circuitous walking path, three access points, a dedicated 4,000 square foot surface for skateboarding complete with obstacles, a 15,000 square foot kidney-shaped open-air ice skating rink, an open-air amphitheater, two separate playground facilities, a sand volleyball court, bocce ball area, benches, trash receptacles, water bubblers, fencing and gates, picnic tables, trees, shrubs, lawn areas, lighting, an irrigation system, community gathering area accented with flagpoles and a dedication monument seen in the foreground above, a reading area (as the recreational facility is adjacent to the Attleboro Public Library), a pedestrian footbridge that spans the Ten Mile River and connects Riverbank Road to the Riverwalk, to the 700 foot long riverwalk along the Ten Mile River that is located just in front of the pitched roof building, as seen above.