The new Knox Street Park is taking shape, a colorful playground rising from a dirt lot in downtown Lewiston.

This sturdy playground is rising right next door to Lots to Gardens, where neatly planted rows of vegetables are sprouting early signs of life.

It’s taken more than a year for the Knox Street Park to become a reality, and a good deal of goodwill was spent in the needless posturing and prolonged negotiations to establish ownership and purpose for this lot. The park, intended to replace the Maple Street Park that was closed in 2004, is not a large space, but it holds an important place in this community.

In recent years, the city of Lewiston has made terrific progress in upgrading community spaces, including the addition of the skate park and redesign of basketball courts at Kennedy Park. On deck is replacement of the play equipment there that recently had to be removed because it was deemed unsafe.

On Monday, despite the heat, the sidewalks along Knox Street were hopping with children riding bikes, playing tag, skipping rope and generally enjoying an early summer day. The basketball courts in Kennedy Park were quiet, but work was being done to prepare the city pool for opening and park benches were filled with adults sharing quiet conversation. Each location the very picture of community.

Downtown parks in cities across this country were and are designed as community meeting places, sites where city dwellers can enjoy the greenery and children can safely play. Early colonists established parks as centers of shared commerce and information, and cities grew up around these necessary green spaces.

In dozens of cities across the country, millions have been spent to revitalize long-neglected downtown parks and fan a sense of community.

The renovations at Kennedy Park and the addition of the park at Knox Street are part of that movement to capture community, each project resulting from the work of city officials, public dollars, private donors and community activists.

Lewiston’s commitment to community building is significant, and the city is better for it.