Verdugo Park Has A Long History As A Recreation Area

Verdugo Park is located at the bottom of the Verdugo Canyon, somewhat adjacent to Glendale Community College. It features acres of grass-covered land with scores of mature sycamore trees. It offers picnic areas, basketball courts, a ball field and a skate park. And interestingly enough it has a long history as a recreational site dating back to the 1880s. 

The Verdugo Canyon was part of the massive rancho owned by the Verdugo family (thus the name) but as the family lost control of their land with the arrival of the Americans in the 1840s and ’50s, it became open land. It was farmed by Chinese farmers and a perennial stream running down the canyon supplied much of the domestic water for an early developing Glendale. 

Beginning in 1887, the land we now think of as Verdugo Park became a favored picnic ground for residents of Los Angeles. Daytrippers were transported to the park area by a steam train of the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railway. The intermittent runs of the excursion train ran on tracks in the middle of Glendale Avenue and then into the park. It’s mentioned several times as a destination in tourist guides of the 1890s.

At the turn of the century, the Verdugo Canyon began to be eyed for development, although recreation was still a focus. In 1907, a group of men formed the Forest Grove Land Company. Their intention was to develop the upper part of the canyon for homes and save 50 acres of the lower portion, today’s Verdugo Park, as dedicated park land. They hired the landscape designer who had laid out Golden Gate Park to begin the development of the park. Underbrush was cleared, trees were trimmed and rustic bridges over the clear running stream were built. However, a depression was on, they ran out of money and the development failed.

The park site continued to be used by picnickers, coming in by wagon and steam train. In 1910, Glendale developers saw the park as a key attraction that would boost land sales in the city. They offered a $25,000 bonus to the Glendale-Eagle Rock trolley line to extend their tracks to Verdugo Park by the 4^th of July that year, which they achieved. The park became such an attraction that multiple cars of passenger trolleys ran each day, bringing Los Angeles and Glendale residents to enjoy a day under the sycamores. Vintage postcards show park-goers enjoying fresh air under the trees and by the free-flowing Verdugo Creek.

In 1922 the fast growing City of Glendale bought the park and many acres of land in the Verdugo Canyon above it with the stated intention of creating a park. Southern California was booming at that time and the land grew in value quickly. 

Within a year the City flipped the land to a developer for a tidy profit. Homes began to be built in the upper part of the canyon (what we now think of as Verdugo Woodlands) but the picnic area that had been so popular a tourist destination remained a privately-owned informal open space and continued to be well-used.

In 1944, the City of Glendale got serious about creating a park on that open picnic ground that was to officially become Verdugo Park. They purchased 36½ acres and brought in two top landscape designers to create the park. One of them was a woman – Ruth Shellhorn. Shellhorn is known for designing landscaping for the big shopping centers that were popping up all over Greater Los Angeles, but is most famous as one of the designers of Disneyland. The other landscape designer they hired – Ralph Cornell – had designed many local landmarks but was noted for his work with Theodore Payne incorporating native vegetation into his landscaping. We can perhaps thank him for the retention of the massive native sycamore trees that dominate Verdugo Park.

Today we enjoy the beautiful and well-wooded Verdugo Park. But most park goers are unaware that many generations of residents seeking peace and recreation have favored that ground, dating all the way back to the 1880s.