Fossil Park

The city of Richmond’s name has come to mark a period of geological history dating back 440 million years ago. The “Richmondian” or the “Richmondian Age” describe a period in time where rock formations with names like “Whitewater,” Liberty,” “Waynesville” and “Arnheim” accumulated on the bottom of an ancient sea where east central Indiana and west central Ohio are now located. An Earlham College professor and students have started a “fossil park” within the Bicentennial Park alongside Bridge Avenue near Sim Hodgin Parkway. For now the park is comprised of two informational signs overlooking a pile of fossiliferous rock that was transported to the site by Indiana Dept. of Transportation workers from a road cut along US 27 just south of the city limits (it is now illegal to hunt for fossils alongside roadways). Impressions from animals have been preserved on the rock, including brachipods (marine animals with shells), cephalolpods (squid) and bryozoa (moss animals). The park is funded by contributions from Earlham’s geology dept. and the Bonner Scholars Program’s community fund.