The Town of Huntington officially broke ground on an expanded Alfred J. Walker Memorial Park on Friday.
Located at 33 West 11th St., Huntington Station, the park is growing and adding new features, including a soccer field, parking, exercise spaces, a gazebo and cornhole courts, while rebuilding basketball courts and playground space. The work is expected to be complete by late July.
The park, named for the late cartoonist and World War II Army veteran, who lived on 11th Street.
Members of Walker’s family, along with town officials, park advocates and members of the group Leaders of the New School, which helped promote the park’s renovations, attended the press conference and ceremonial groundbreaking.
Walker served as a corporal in the U.S. Fifth Army during World War II. Among numerous military accomplishments, Walker worked briefly with Irving Berlin in his salute to the American GI. He later helped to catalog recovered artwork stolen by the Nazis in Germany and Salzburg, Austria. He also trained at Walt Disney Studios.