John McLaren Park

For the suburb of Auckland, see McLaren Park, New Zealand.
John McLaren Park

McNab Lake with Playground
Type Municipal (San Francisco)
Location San Francisco
Area 317 acres (1.28 km2; 0.495 sq mi)
Created 1926
Status Open all year

John McLaren Park is a park in south-eastern San Francisco. John McLaren Park is the second largest park in San Francisco after Golden Gate Park. The park is surrounded mostly by the Excelsior, Crocker-Amazon, Visitacion Valley, Portola and University Mound neighborhoods.

History

John McLaren Park was once a part of Rancho Cañada de Guadalupe la Visitación y Rodeo Viejo. When California was part of Mexico, its then governor Juan Bautista Alvarado granted what is now known as John McLaren Park to the local authorities in 1840.

In 1905, subdivisions of the land grant were drawn up and Daniel Burnham recommended that the land where John McLaren Park is today be a park. The land was purchased by the Board of Supervisors in 1928 despite a bond measure being defeated. In 1934, John McLaren organized a dedication flag ceremony in the park, which bears his name, and it is currently the second-largest park in the city.

Amenities

Coffman Pool was John McLaren Park's first recreation facility constructed near Herz Playground, also in John McLaren Park in 1958. A master plan for the park was published in 1959 which called for the creation of more recreational facilities. Construction of the facilities included in the Master Plan (The Gleneagles Golf Course, McNab Lake, Louis Sutter, Herz, and Mansfield-Burrows Playground, the Wilde Overlook, and the amphitheater—later to be renamed the Jerry Garcia Amphitheater) began in the 1960s, and also included new trails, picnic and parking areas, community gardens, and an irrigation system.

In the northeast corner of the park is Yosemite Marsh, a habitat for native species that include the forktail damselfly and flowering quillwort. Named a "significant natural resource area" by the city in 1995, the marsh marks the origin of Yosemite Creek, a body of water that flows through underground culverts towards Candlestick Point.[1]

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to McLaren Park, San Francisco.

References

  1. ↑ Kathleen Sullivan (March 4, 2005). "MCLAREN PARK / Competing proposals put forth to preserve marsh". The San Francisco Chronicle.

Coordinates: 37°43′05″N 122°25′08″W / 37.718°N 122.419°W / 37.718; -122.419


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