Graham city workers began disassembling Sesquicentennial Park on the northwest corner of Court Square in downtown Graham Tuesday morning, after returning to work following the Memorial Day holiday. By early afternoon, all the brick pavers that had formed the floor of the park had been taken up, put on pallets, and moved to storage at the public works department. By Wednesday, only the dirt remained where the park had stood.
Construction of Sesquicentennial Park was completed in 2001, with funding from private donations, including the sale of commemorative bricks, as part of Alamance County’s 150th anniversary celebration in 1999.
Robertson recalled for The Alamance News Tuesday morning that the city council had originally voted in May 2025 to disassemble Sesquicentennial Park and to put the pergola, commemorative bricks, and clock in storage.
Robertson said all of his employees in the public works department, except for sanitation workers, were on site to assist with dismantling the park.
A brick wall attached to a commercial building at 106 North Main Street that’s used to screen trash cans from view will remain intact, Robertson told the newspaper.
The council most recently reaffirmed that vote at its meeting on May 12, according to the city’s public works director.
Robertson estimated that it would take the public works department the remainder of the week to complete disassembly. By late afternoon on Tuesday, the only structure remaining was the brick and steel gazebo. Brick planters and walls had been removed, as well as all memorial bricks and other bricks that made up the floor.
The pergola, bricks, and clock, as well as other items used in the park’s construction, would be stored at the public works department on East Parker Street, Robertson told the newspaper.
[Story continues below photos of the disassembly of the park.]
Pictures below are of other parts of disassembly work on Tuesday, May 26, 2026:
Photos from completing the removal of the pergola on Wednesday, May 27, 2026
Individuals who wish to retrieve a commemorative brick that was used to fund construction can come to city hall, “identify themselves as the legal owner,” and pick up their bricks, Robertson said.
The next step will be for the council to “pass a resolution,” instructing the public works staff what to do next.
During the council comments portion of their May 12 meeting, Bonnie Whitaker returned to the park issue, insisting that it was not safe and should be disassembled and pressing for a “consensus” to have the staff proceed with dismantling the current park.
Alamance News publisher Tom Boney, Jr. interjected at one point that state law prohibits governments from demolishing or removing a historical monument – termed “an object of remembrance,” in the statute.
But Whitaker said that, because the park wasn’t safe, that restriction did not apply.
Councilman Bobby Chin suggested that the city get its engineering firm – Alley, Williams, Carmen & King – to look at estimating the cost to repair the park, which seemed to be agreed to.
That part of the discussion at the council’s May 12 meeting was video-recorded but had no audio, due to what Graham city officials later attributed to a failure of the city’s audio equipment.
Mayor Chelsea Dickey’s motion to seek bids to repair the existing park failed 2-3; she and councilman Jim Young voted in favor. Whitaker, Chin, and mayor pro tem Ricky Hall voted against.
The council had voted 5-0 at a special meeting on April 27 to reject bids for the construction of a new park at 129 West Elm Street. The bids for the new park came in at $1.2 million and $1.6 million.
About a year ago, bids were received from H.F. Mitchell Construction of Graham for $470,701 and Durham-based Pinam Construction for $379,425. Those prices have long since expired, but Dickey said it would be worthwhile to find out the updated, 2026 equivalents.
Those bids were for: removal of landscaping, structures, brickwork, with preservation of the memorial benches, clock, and pergola that would be placed in storage; grading the site for drainage; and re-seeding the lot.
A previous iteration of Graham’s city council – that included then-mayor Jennifer Talley and then-councilman Joey Parsons – voted 4-1 on May 13, 2025 to remove the pergola and memorial bricks and “do whatever’s necessary to make that piece of property safe and then consider declaring the land excess and putting it up for sale,” based on the motion introduced by Chin.
Talley, Whitaker, Parsons, and Chin had voted to begin the removal process. Hall had cast the lone vote against at the meeting in May 2025.
