More about Santa Rosa in the summer of 1925. See INTRO for overview and index.
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Despite its ambitions to become the grand metropolis of the North Bay, Santa Rosa didn’t have a public park until the Juilliards donated their nine acres in 1931. But ten years before that, the city and Chamber of Commerce had bought land just north of our current high school with the intent to create the “Luther Burbank Creation Garden.” Efforts to raise money and bootstrap those plans dragged on through the 1920s. Newspaper articles about the latest (non) developments were so common it was referred to as just “the Burbank Park” without further explanation.
The Burbank Park had little or nothing to do with Luther Burbank – aside from a promise he would contribute some plants – so the Chamber had consulted in 1923 with Dr. Carol Aronovici, a renowned authority in city planning and urban beautification to design a basic layout. Much (or all) of those plans were tossed in July 1925 when the landscaper who created the new high school grounds presented more detailed plans to the Chamber. July also saw a drive for citizens to sign a petition asking the city to immediately annex the property. It’s not clear why there was a sudden urgency for this action but it appears related to the Chamber’s headaches over the auto camp on McDonald Avenue, which was the subject of a variety of complaints. In May there were calls (by people unnamed) to move the tourist stopover there, which was both outside of city limits and not close to a neighborhood. As the Chamber was an enthusiastic booster of the camp, this would have likely made it semi-permanent at that location. Former State Senator Walter F. Price voiced his outrage for the proposal on behalf of the Burbank Park committee: “To even consider such a proposition is a desecration…we love and honor Luther Burbank too much to have such a thing suggested.” |
W. C. Hoff, landscape gardener, who laid out the high school grounds here, expects to submit to the forum meeting of the chamber next Tuesday night plans for a new scheme of landscaping at Burbank Park, the directors were informed. His plan calls for following the natural contour of the land and trees, substituting wide spreading trees and shrubs for the tall, narrow growths provided in the Aronovici plan. (July 15)
DEER PADDOCK FOR BURBANK PARK PLANNED (July 17)
500 URGE CITY ANNEX LUTHER BURBANK PARK – With approximately 500 signatures, the petition asking annexation of Luther Burbank park to the City of Santa Rosa is ready for presentation to the city council, it was announced yesterday at the Santa Rosa Chamber of Commerce office. The paper will be laid before the council at its next meeting.
The land sought to be annexed to the city is uninhabited, including only Burbank park and part of the high school grounds, lying outside the northern limits of the city. Since no one resides in the tract, it is understood no election is necessary, adoption of an ordinance of annexation sufficing. (July 29)