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Arcadia County Park or Arcadia Community Regional Park (originally Santa Anita Recreational Park)[1] is a park in Arcadia, California 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 racetrack, and the Santa Anita Golf Course. 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.
| Arcadia County Park | |
|---|---|
  Arcadia Country Park | |
| Type | Urban park |
| Location | Arcadia, California |
| Coordinates | 34.1378244°N 118.0337007°W |
| Area | 185 acres (75 ha) |
| Opened | October 12, 1938 |
| Operated by | County of Los Angeles Department of Parks and Recreation |
| Status | Open all year |
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 courts, a baseball field, two softball fields, children's playgrounds, fitness zones, group picnic shelters, outdoor kitchens, horseshoe pits, a senior center, and a community center.[2] 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.[3] The southeast corner of the park features a clubhouse and four bowling greens 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.[4]
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, as well as those who served during the Philippine–American War and China Relief Expedition. The Hiker originally sat in the park's southwest corner, but was moved to its current location on June 21, 1993.[5][6]
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 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, it was later dedicated to the victims of the September 11 attacks.[7]
The land on which Arcadia County Park sits was originally the site of Ross Field, a former World War I 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 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.[1] After being approved by President Roosevelt, groundbreaking for the park began on February 10, 1936, and the park was dedicated on July 4, 1938.[8] 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.[9][1]
The name of the park was eventually changed from the "Santa Anita Recreational Park" to "Arcadia County Park" due to confusion with the nearby Santa Anita Park. Over the years, numerous minor projects were completed on the park, including $50,000 appropriated in 1950 for general improvements.[10] 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.[11]
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