Modesto Parks

Landmark Preservation Commission Resolution: August 17, 1992

Designated by City Council: December 8, 1992

Description: Enslen Park retains its imposing entrance with two large pillars with the name of the park and two smaller pillars showing the date the park was constructed. Later additions to the park include the Boy Scout Clubhouse, softball fields, and horseshoe pits.

Historic Significance: Shortly after the formation of Graceada Park, James Enslen donated another block of land at the end of Park Avenue, adjacent to Graceada Park. John McLaren, superintendent of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, planned and laid out the new park. The Modesto Women's Improvement Club supervised the construction and landscaping of the park.

In 1910, Sheriff A.S. Dingley presented 90 redwood trees to Enslen and Graceada Parks. Dingley got the trees from Sheriff Donohue of Mendocino County where "...redwoods are as common as jackrabbits in Stanislaus County," an old newspaper article reports. The Boy Scout Clubhouse was built in 1948 and was donated by the Modesto Kiwanis Club.

At one time the park contained a small zoo with elk, deer, and ostriches, and possibly a kangaroo. An article in the April 12, 1918, Modesto Morning Herald states that the Sacramento Park Commission's gift of two lady elk are"...well received by the two heretofore lonesome gentlemen elk at Enslen Park."