Crapo Park is an 85 acre city park established in 1895 for Burlington's semi-centennial celebrations, and boasts an arboretum and botanical garden, located alongside the Mississippi River at Parkway Drive. It is reputed to be the site where the American flag was first raised on Iowa's soil, by Zebulon Pike in 1805. Crapo Park was also added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.
Crapo Park includes an arboretum containing more than 200 varieties of trees and shrubs, as well as botanical gardens of annuals and perennials. As of 2003, the following park trees were on Iowa's statewide "Big Tree' list: Arizona Cypress, Black Hickory, pawpaw, and Black Walnut.
The park was established in 1895 by Philip Crapo, a local businessman and philanthropist, in time for the semi-centennial (1896), with landscaping engineering by Earnshaw and Punshon of Cincinnati, Ohio. In addition to the 4 shelter houses and walking trails through the arboretum and a number of beautiful gardens, the park includes, Lake Starker, Hawkeye Natives Log Cabin, The Pike Memorial, Foehlinger Fountain, and The Band Shell.
