“It’s a rarity, and we should preserve it as an open space.”
By Jonmaesha Beltran / ecoRI News staff
September 4, 2026
This story was originally published in EcoRI News, a publication partner of Ocean State Stories
NEWPORT — Near Memorial Boulevard, a small green space sits between homes at the corner of Thomas and John streets. Residents of the Historic Hill neighborhood know the area as John Street Park, but the park has never had an official name. The police department wants to turn it into a tribute to the city’s first responders.
In May, the department proposed to name the park Officer Barker First Responder Memorial Park to honor Eugene Barker, the first Newport police officer to die while on active duty. The department also wants to create a memorial recognizing three other first responders killed on the job.
But John Street residents are pushing back on the department’s vision.
They’re not opposed to honoring first responders. But they oppose turning their neighborhood park into a destination that could bring more visitors to a narrow residential street where parking is hard to come by. They also have concerns about the environmental impact of altering the landscape.
The department unveiled a conceptual design by Providence-based RGB Architects during an Aug. 24 Newport Tree and Open Space Commission meeting, the first community discussion about the project.
The design calls for a brick-paver pad leading to a circular memorial. Engraved pavers would line the path. Stone pillars topped with a bronze plaque would identify the fallen responders. At the center, an anchor-shaped medallion would serve as the memorial’s emblem, backed by American, Rhode Island and Newport flags.
But Capt. Michael Horn told ecoRI News several days after the meeting that the design has already changed based on residents’ feedback and that the memorial’s location is not set in stone.
Horn said the department would like the park to bear Barker’s name even if the memorial is located elsewhere.
Whether the name would remain would be up to the city, he said, but it would be “at least a nice little nod” to the late officer.
The department chose the site because of its connection to Barker, who was killed April 22, 1884, while responding to a shooting at the Newport Exchange. A gunman shot another person before killing Barker. At the time, the exchange stood at 98 Levin St., now John Street.
“Renaming and creating a memorial here is important in preserving Officer Barker’s story and sacrifice for all,” Horn wrote to the Tree and Open Space Commission in April.
The memorial would also honor Robert Scott, a police officer struck by a car while directing traffic at Washington Square and Thames Street on March 20, 1922; John Malloy, a fire captain who fell down a flight of stairs and suffered a fatal head injury while fighting a fire at City Hall on March 24, 1925; and Patrick Clune, a police inspector who was shot at the Market Square Police Station while questioning two juveniles about stolen firearms on March 5, 1938.
The department envisions the park as a place for quiet reflection, remembrance and a way to educate the public about the dangers first responders face.
RGB Architects’ Ashley Carrig said during the meeting that the department plans to hold ceremonies there several times a year.
But residents say the park already serves a purpose.
Former Newport Historical Society executive director Daniel Snydacker, who lives on John Street, alerted his neighbors to the proposal so they could weigh in before the plans advance.
He told the commission that the park is an important center of the neighborhood and a reminder of Newport’s past, when the area was agricultural.
“We’re surrounded by concrete and cars and losing trees right and left, so it means a lot to us just the way it is,” he said, adding, “It’s a rarity, and we should preserve it as an open space.”
Snydacker and other residents urged the department to consider other locations, including Spring Park, Queen Anne Square and Aquidneck Park.
“I think all of those would provide you with that quiet reflection,” Snydacker said.
Horn said the project’s materials, labor and completion would be funded through donations and fundraising.
The memorial also would not require removing any of the park’s existing trees, Tree and Open Space Commission chair Maureen Cronin told residents.
Horn told ecoRI News the Aug. 24 meeting was only the beginning of the process and the department is committed to working with residents to determine where the memorial should be located and to consider its environmental impact, regardless of which park houses it.
He expects the department to present a revised proposal to the public.
But the Newport City Council will have the final decision.
