City crews on Tuesday were taking out the old timbers at Oakwood Park on Circle Drive to ready the park for some new playground equipment.

The park — which has been in existence since the late 1890s thanks to a man named George Lewis Carrington — currently has a large swing set with four swings and a small slide.

Parks and Recreation Director Jay Hutchison said when the park is completed it will have a new structure with climbing apparatus and slides, along with the old swing set. The smaller slide will be removed.

Hutchison said the new playground equipment was made possible through a grant awarded to the city by a playground manufacturer.

The grant is also making some new equipment possible at Shoreland Heights Park. There, the current swing set will come out, and a new climbing playground and smaller set of swings will be installed, he said.

Through the grant, the city was able to get a little more than $40,000 in equipment for both parks for half the price.

“If we wouldn’t have gotten this grant opportunity, we probably wouldn’t be doing it,” Hutchison said.

Albert Lea City Councilor Larry Baker said he has worked to get a new playground at the Oakwood Park since 2007, but it got pushed back to 2008 and eventually into 2009. The idea ended up getting cut in 2009, but thanks to the grant it was made possible.

Baker said there are many young families who live in the area who will be able to utilize the space.

Hutchison said Oakwood and Shoreland Heights parks are both on the city’s list for parks that need improvements. Since he’s worked for the city, he noted, the city has tried to take one park a year to fix up.

He noted he hopes the parks will be completed by the end of June.

Mike Westney, one of the crew members working at the park Tuesday, said crews were going to take out some of the mulch from the playground area at Oakwood Park and take it to other parks to recycle it.