‘A transformative quality-of-life project’: $5M trail grant to connect Pike County parks
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A $5 million grant from Lilly Endowment’s Giving Indiana Funds for Tomorrow initiative will be used to build a 2.5-mile trail in Pike County. The Buffalo Trace Trail will connect Hornady Park in Petersburg to Prides Creek Park in the county.
The project is a collaboration among Community Foundation Alliance, Pike County Community Foundation, Pike County Commissioners, Pike County Progress Partners and City of Petersburg.
“We have not received all of the grant dollars yet,” said Jill Carpenter, CFA’s president and CEO. “We received the first installment in January. So the last few months, we have been gearing up and getting ready.”
The estimated cost of the trail, which will also include blight elimination and art installations, is more than $5.2 million, with the remainder of the funds likely coming from Indiana First’s READI 2.0 award.
“We will be doing the art integration and working with [Indiana University’s Center for Rural Engagement] this year. We have to do some land acquisition from property owners, and with that comes appraisals and preparations. Then stage two is the design of the final art tracings,” Carpenter said.
Bids for the Buffalo Trace Trail project are expected to open in early 2026, with construction starting mid-2026 and ending in 2027.
“Adding this trail is going to increase our population growth for families, going to be positive for increasing our workforce that we have available, but also helping our schools as well,” said Ashley Willis, executive director of Pike County Economic Development Corp. “We’re going to see positive [outcomes] in regards to new housing, assessed value, more housing coming online, more families, and that economic value is going to be big.”
Lilly Endowment’s GIFT initiative
The CFA’s $5 million grant for the Pike County project is part of Lilly Endowment’s eighth phase of the GIFT initiative. The program is designed to help community foundations and their partners enhance the quality of life for residents in the towns, cities, counties and regions they serve. The 30 grants awarded statewide in 2024 ranged from $467,327 to $20 million, totaling more than $171 million.
Carpenter said as CFA was evaluating potential projects to submit for the grant from its nine-county coverage area, Pike County’s Buffalo Trace Trail idea stood out.
“We felt for a rural community, this was important. It was going to be in an older industrial corridor, which, right now, is unsafe to walk. We thought this would be a good project to submit the concept paper,” said Carpenter.
After completing the first step of the application process in April, Lilly Endowment invited CFA to submit a proposal in September. The organization was then notified about receiving the grant in December. Carpenter said the span of the timeline allowed CFA to build a case for the trail.
“We had a couple of months to get our ducks in a row, working with different vendors and organizations and ensuring that we had local business, nonprofit and government support for this project,” said Carpenter. “One of the things we had to do for the grant was identify what the local need was. And it was the region’s need for community development, economic growth and celebrating its historical legacy.”
Buffalo Trace Trail project
The new Pike County trail between Hornady Park and Prides Creek Park will connect to a 5-mile fitness path in Petersburg, expanding safe pedestrian routes and improving community accessibility.
“Historically, the route has served as an industrial corridor for coal trucks. There was also a bottling manufacturer and a shell button magnet manufacturer there,” Carpenter said.
The route is now home to a variety of community resources, which will be linked together by the pathway.
“[The corridor] has three different healthcare centers, some retail and restaurants, the Petersburg Little League complex, as well as some professional services. The trail will connect multiple neighborhoods, including a new subdivision,” said Carpenter.
IU’s Center for Rural Engagement will spearhead the creation of public art installations along the trail to reflect the region’s history, creating an atmosphere that fosters pride and a family-friendly environment of health, wellness and connection. Carpenter said community input will be used to create meaningful and culturally resonant pieces.
“Often, communities forget about public art until after construction is complete, and it makes it difficult to go back afterwards,” said Denny Spinner, executive director of IU’s Center for Rural Engagement, in a news release. “This project is a special project, and we are thrilled to be a part of it.”
‘An exciting opportunity’
The Buffalo Trace Trail project aligns with objectives in the City of Petersburg’s comprehensive plan. Through public comment and stakeholder meetings, officials learned that population growth and retention were critical priorities in the community.
“The plan called for more housing, access to trails and bike paths, public art, amenities for young families and activities for youth,” said Carpenter.
The trail initiative also lines up with the city’s Park and Recreation Master Plan. Informed by surveys and public comment, the document emphasizes the need for improved walkability through multi-use pathways and bike trails, along with infrastructure for other outdoor activities.
“We just invested in our local parks with new playground equipment, and we have a splash park. That splash pad that’s free to the public,” said Willis.
Wills said this is the first time Pike County has received a Lilly Endowment grant of this magnitude. She wants residents to know that this investment in quality of life and quality of place in Pike County will make the community more attractive without burdening taxpayers.
“We’ve had some confusion that we’re paying out of tax dollars with this trail, and that it’s not a grant. Or they’re confused about what a grant is and think we have to pay it back. We’re trying to educate along the way about what an exciting opportunity this is and how it was a very competitive process for the Lilly grant,” said Willis.
CFA also received a $6.7 million grant from Lilly Endowment’s GIFT VIII initiative for Sanctuary on the Hill, a 90-acre retreat in northern Warrick County for veterans and their families.