Photo courtesy of SF Historical Collection,SFPL.
John McLaren was superintendent of Golden Gate
Park for almost 50 years.
by Judith Kahn
When the park was first conceived, Frederick Olmstead,
the designer of New York's Central Park, was consulted.
He was of the opinion that parks with trees and shrubs were
out of the question for San Francisco. A Santa Rosa newspaper
described the proposed site for the park as a "dreary waste
of shifting sand hills."
But Hall was not convinced and he successfully turned the
acres of sand into a great park. In 1887, McLaren, at age
40, was appointed the fifth superintendent of the park.
He served until his death.
McLaren emigrated from Scotland to California in 1870.
Prior to being appointed superintendent, he had already
established his credibility as a master gardener both in
Scotland and California.
He studied horticulture in Edinburgh at the Royal Botanical
Garden. For his training he was hired as a gardener's helper
on the estates of the Earl of Windsor. In Scotland, he had
planted a grass called, "sea bent" in the shifting sands,
which helped hold the sand in place. In California. he planted
trees at George Howard's estate and Leland Stanford's ranch.
When McLaren became superintendent, he believed he could
once again plant sea bent. He also made the following demands
before taking the job Ð an unlimited amount of water, $30,000
a year for grading and planting and all the dung sweeping
from San Francisco streets to fertilize ground. Above all,
he insisted that there never be a sign in the park that
read, "Keep off the grass."
When he first saw the California redwoods, he remembered
his father's admonition: "Me boy, if ye have nothing to
do, go plant a tree and it will grow while ye sleep."
And plant he did.
In his youth, McLaren said, "I hope to plant a million
trees before I die." He planted more then two million.
He was chosen to be the architect for the 1915 Panama Pacific
International Exposition. He grew trees before the exposition
and stored them in the Presidio until needed. He planted
a variety of bulbs at varying depths in the ground, to control
the growth and color of the flowers. His favorite flower
was the rhododendron and his favorite tree was the "evergreen
redwood."
Having tied down the sand dunes, he still had to figure
out how to control the ocean waves that swept new sand into
the man-made garden. Along the beach, he put thousand of
bundles of laths in a row. In front of them, he dumped twigs
and branches that had been pruned from the park trees. The
ocean piled sand onto the simple barricade and formed a
ridge that ran the length of the beach. Today, it is known
as the Great Highway.
McLaren's battle with bureaucracy was legendary. He fought
the San Francisco Railway when it planned a streetcar line
through the park and he fought the chief of police when
he sought to remove an oak tree that was too close to a
building. McLaren told him, "I'm a reasonable man. Let's
compromise. You remove the station."
When a reporter asked him about what was said, he replied,
"It was just a wee misunderstanding."
The city's leader's insisted that the park have statues
of every great man they could think of. McLaren hated statues
and called them "stookies." Every time they erected a stookie,
he would plant trees to hide it. Some of the most beautiful
groves he planted were created to hide a famous man's likeness.
McLaren was considered a benevolent dictator. Most workers
admired him; some worshiped him and called him "Uncle John."
His assistant said that he always swore at his men and they'd
swear right back Ð this was the best way to keep their jobs.
In 1883, the board of supervisors approved for the Mid-Winter
Fair to be held at the east end of Golden Gate Park. It
enraged McLaren to watch trees and shrubs ripped from the
ground and his opposition to the fair never ceased. At its
closing, it is said that he derived joy from ordering the
sticks of dynamite for the destruction of the 272-foot-tall
Bonet Electric Tower.
When McLaren was 70 years old, he had reached the mandatory
retirement age. The board of supervisors wrote legislation
that permitted him to remain superintendent for life. Since
he would loose his pension, the board also doubled his salary.
McLaren envisioned a park with open space within walking
distance of every resident of the city. He was insistent
that facilities would be provided for baseball, tennis,
lawn bowling and fly casting.
McLaren passed away in his beloved park on Jan. 12, 1943,
at the age of 96. His body lay in the rotunda of City Hall
for two days. When the funeral procession passed through
the park on its way to the cemetery, many of his employees
stood at attention with their hats off.
