NASHUA – With the upgrades to the Thornton Park Tot Lot, young children climbing, swinging and having a good time now have new sustainable equipment to use.

On Wednesday, Mayor Jim Donchess joined members of the Parks & Recreation Department to cut the ribbon to officially celebrate the completion of the tot lot.

Built in the mid-1980s, the space where the playground is positioned was originally planned to be a fire station. When those plans fell through, the city instead granted the neighborhood a park.

“In the mid-80s, they were going to build a fire station,” Parks and Recreation Superintendent Nick Caggiano said. “They changed their mind and said, ‘Here, have a park.'”

While some of the equipment has lasted, including the popular diggers, the swings, and the metal climber, officials replaced other rusting pieces with a sustainable playset.

“The equipment was getting pretty old and rusty and needed to be replaced,” Caggiano said. “The neighborhood kind of talked to us about it a year and a half ago, so we started figuring out a plan.”

The playset consists of two separate structures: A large one consisting of monkey bars, stairs, a small climbing entrance and a slide; and a smaller one with binoculars and a “megaphone” for children to enjoy.

On of the more interesting aspects of the two structures are made out of a environmentally friendly, long lasting source.

“The playset is made from a sustainable lumber source, Robina wood, which is similar to black locust, from hungry very durable and renewable, which is rot and insect resistant.”

Nashua Alderman Richard Dowd, who helped push the renovations through the Board of Aldermen, said the new structures will help the surrounding community.

“It gives the kids a few more things to play on when they’re here, and there are kids here a lot,” Dowd said. “Every time I go by, there is sometimes as many as 10 to 12 families out here, so it is used quite a bit.”

Putting the structure together presented a small challenge for employees during the building process.

“Even though we learned about it in high school a little bit, though no one ever pays attention, we’re pretty good at the metric system,” Caggiano said. “There were no feet or inches.”

Mathew Plamondon may be reached at 594-1244, or at mplamondon@nashuatelegraph.com, @telegraph_MatP.

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