June 19, 2014 105th Anniversary of Collier’s Parklands!

The OB Historical Society Presented 105th Anniversary of Collier’s Parklands! Featured John Noble,  Kathy Blavatt and others—June 19, 2014. The OBHS celebrated an important historical gift to our peninsula. In 1909, D.C. Collier’s dream of a park for the future children of his beloved community was on it’s way to being established. A sixty acres tract on pueblo lot 206 was dedicated parkland, upon which Collier promised to plant thousand of trees without cost to the city. He’d also connect a road to the two main boulevards. 105 years later parks on the property include: Collier Park, the Point Loma Native Reserve (Garden), The Ocean Beach Community Garden and Cleater Park (ballfields). Other parts of the property are no longer public parkland.
We learned about the parks’ turbulent past, including areas that lost protection as designated parkland. Also about the home for unwed mothers that sat on the parklands’ site for decades. At the Celebrate the Collier Parkland’s 105th Anniversary the Point Loma Garden Club, donated to the O.B. Archives, a wonderful collection  about the history of establishing the Point Loma Native Preserve. Frank Gomile of the OB Rag spoke on the riots and did a wonderful brief history on Collier. The OB Rag did a story on the OBHS program and a follow-up on the parks and history at: http://obrag.org/?p=84643>