Mariann Fisk Laughlin, great-great-great granddaughter of Judge Greenleaf Fisk, recently approached the parks and recreation board requesting the park be renamed in an effort to preserve the land’s history, according to city documents.
While most people may be unaware of the park, it does belong to the city of Liberty Hill and was acquired years ago, said Lisa Messana, a member on the parks and recreation board, during a February City Council meeting.
What’s in a name
Dating back to the 1800s, Greenleaf Fisk was the first chief justice in Williamson County who also set up the first county government, Messana said. She said Fisk and his father-in-law owned a lot of the land where Liberty Hill and most of Leander is located.
Back then, locals referred to the springs on the parkland as “Cashion Springs,” Messana said, because they ran through the property that later became the home of Ann Elizabeth Fisk Cashion, who was Greenleaf Fisk’s daughter.
The property stayed in the family for roughly 99 years afterwards.
“We’re talking about a century of this family being on this land,” Messana said.
Further, the name “Fisk-Cashion” coordinates with the Fisk-Cashion Historic Cemetery, which is situated on the same property as the park. The cemetery includes the gravesites of Greenleaf Fisk’s first wife, Mary Ann Manlove Fisk, and his second wife, Margaret Jane Manlove Lane Fisk, and her baby.
