T.J. O’Grady Memorial Skate Park

This funding requests supports the completion of the current expansion work to the T.J. O’Grady Memorial Skate Park, located at 66 Hayward Road in Acton.  The skate park officially opened for public use on Monday, November 21, 2005 to celebrate the life of T.J. O’Grady.  T.J. was a 14-year-old Acton-Boxborough Junior High student who passed away tragically on this date in 1998 while skateboarding on a street in Boxborough, MA.  T.J. had a passion for history, friends and skateboarding.  He co-founded the R.J. Grey Junior High School Skateboard Club. 
                                                                                                           
A skate park was a dream of T.J.’s and friends and concerned citizens realized that a safe place to skateboard would help to prevent similar tragedies; thus the T. J. O’Grady Memorial Skate Park, Inc. fund was born. It took six years to realize T.J.’s dream.  Much of the approximately $285,000 in funding for the park came from donations, with the Town of Acton appropriating $80,000 in 2001 and another $67,000 in 2004 from Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds.  The one-acre parcel abutting the Acton-Boxborough Regional High School grounds was purchased by Town of Acton from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for $2,500.  This site was selected after an exhaustive search considering potential sites that were within walking distance from the school campus.