Arcadia County Park or Arcadia Community Regional Park (originally Santa Anita Recreational Park) is a park in

Arcadia, California Arcadia is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, located about northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains. It contains a series of adjacent parks consisting of t ...

located along the intersection of Huntington Drive and Santa Anita Avenue. The park is also in close proximity to Arcadia City Hall, the Arcadia Police Department headquarters, the

Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious race ...

racetrack, and the

Santa Anita Golf Course The Santa Anita Golf Course, located in the city of Arcadia, California, was operated by Santa Anita Associates for the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation from 1986-2016. This golf course was historically considered to be a par ...

. This golf course, which sits directedly south of Arcadia County Park, is historically considered to be a part of the park. However, locals now exclusively use this name to refer to the park's northern recreational area.

Description

Arcadia County Park has two visitor parking lots. One is located in its eastern portion, stretching along Santa Anita Avenue. Another is located in its western portion, stretching along Huntington Drive. The park's amenities include twelve

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

s, a

baseball field A baseball field, also called a ball field or baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The term can also be used as a metonym for a baseball park. The term sandlot is sometimes used, although this usually refer ...

, two softball fields, children's

playground A playground, playpark, or play area is a place designed to provide an environment for children that facilitates play, typically outdoors. While a playground is usually designed for children, some are designed for other age groups, or people wi ...

s, fitness zones, group picnic shelters, outdoor kitchens, horseshoe pits, a

senior center A senior center (or senior centre or older adult center) is a type of community center where older adults congregate for fellowship with others to fulfill many of their social, physical, emotional, and intellectual needs. A regular part of senio ...

, and a

community center A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...

. Additionally, the Norman Johnson Aquatic Center in the southern section of the park offers two swimming pools and a wading pool. The center is open for recreational swimming and hosts swim lessons for various ages. The southeast corner of the park features a clubhouse and four

bowling green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

s used by the Santa Anita Lawn Bowling Club, previously known as the Arcadia Bowling Green Club. Construction of the clubhouse did not begin until 1947, when the county allocated $30,000 for the project. Located at the center of the park is a bronze statue of a soldier wielding a rifle. Known as "'' The Hiker''", it is one of 52 other identical statues created by Theo Alice Ruggles Kitson scattered around the United States between 1921 and 1956. The statue stands at roughly six feet tall atop a five-foot concrete and granite base. It was installed on April 20, 1941, and was dedicated to veterans of the

Spanish–American War The Spanish–American War (April 21 – August 13, 1898) was fought between Restoration (Spain), Spain and the United States in 1898. It began with the sinking of the USS Maine (1889), USS ''Maine'' in Havana Harbor in Cuba, and resulted in the ...

, as well as those who served during the

Philippine–American War The Philippine–American War, known alternatively as the Philippine Insurrection, Filipino–American War, or Tagalog Insurgency, emerged following the conclusion of the Spanish–American War in December 1898 when the United States annexed th ...

and

China Relief Expedition The China Relief Expedition was an expedition in China undertaken by the United States Armed Forces to rescue United States citizens, European nationals, and other foreign nationals during the latter years of the Boxer Rebellion, which lasted ...

. ''The Hiker'' originally sat in the park's southwest corner, but was moved to its current location on June 21, 1993. There is another art installation in the northeast corner of the park that was commissioned by the Arcadia Rotary Club in 1962. Known as "Memorial Fountain", or simply "Peacock Fountain", it is a fountain entirely covered by mosaic tiles. Created by James Fickes, it stands at approximately 5.5 feet tall and has a diameter of 24 feet. The bronze

peafowl Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...

sculpture that can be seen atop the stone pedestal in the fountain's center was installed in 2002 and adds an additional five feet to its height. It was sculpted by David Chapple. Although Memorial Fountain was originally intended as a

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

, it was later dedicated to the victims of the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

History

The land on which Arcadia County Park sits was originally the site of Ross Field, a former

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

training field used by the United States Army Air Service (USAAS). After the war ended in 1918, the roughly 3,500 soldiers of the balloon training school began to vacate Ross Field. Through an act of Congress in 1935, The War Department returned the land to

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles and sometimes abbreviated as LA County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,663,345 residents estimated in 2023. Its population is greater than that of 40 individua ...

with the provision that a park be built in its place. This was mostly made possible by the efforts of then-Congressman John H. Hoeppel of California's 12th district. After being approved by President Roosevelt,

groundbreaking Groundbreaking, also known as cutting, sod-cutting, turning the first sod, turf-cutting, or a sod-turning ceremony, is a traditional ceremony in many cultures that celebrates the first day of construction for a building or other project. Such cer ...

for the park began on February 10, 1936, and the park was dedicated on July 4, 1938. It officially opened for public use on October 12, 1938, with most of the construction being completed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The project employed over 600 men and cost around $1,000,000. The name of the park was eventually changed from the "Santa Anita Recreational Park" to "Arcadia County Park" due to confusion with the nearby

. Over the years, numerous minor projects were completed on the park, including $50,000 appropriated in 1950 for general improvements. On May 26, 2016, the city of Arcadia unveiled a monument near the northeast corner of the park in honor of the 14 local servicemen killed in the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

References

{{reflist Urban public parks Parks in Los Angeles County, California Regional parks in California Municipal parks in California

Description

History

See also

References