Articles
Newspaper and magazine articles
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World Honored Park’s Gardener (Last part)
Thursday, January 28, 1943 The Call-Bulletin today presents the final chapter of the late J Lawrence Tool’e intimate biography of Uncle John McLaren, veteran park superintendent and “father” of Golden Gate Park. By J. Lawrence Toole With a fervor of affection and gratitude, San Francisco for decades celebrated the natal day of John McLaren, “father” of its public parks. Underlying each succeeding civic observance of the day was the sentiment expressed many years ago by the late James Rolph Jr. As mayor and spokesman for the city: “Life in San Francisco has been better and more beautiful since the coming of John McLaren.” The sentence expressed in a few words…
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S.F. Regarded “Unlovely City” Until — McLaren Put Beauty in Parks and Streets (Part 12)
Wednesday, January 27, 1943 The Call-Bulletin presents, herewith, the twelfth of a series of articles describing the life and work of Uncle John McLaren, “father” of Golden Gate Park. The articles were written by the late J. Lawrence Toole, noted San Francisco newspaperman. By J. Lawrence Toole The San Francisco John McLaren saw in the early ’80s when he drove up from one or other of his tree-planting jobs in San Mateo, was a rather unlovely city. Around it, of course, just as they had been, possibly, since time began, were the bay and the mountains and the ocean, but within its incomparable setting the young city itself seems to…
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Gardener Knew Artists Who Made Park Mecca (Part 11)
Tuesday, January 26, 1943 The Call-Bulletin presents, herewith, the eleventh of a series of articles describing the life and work of Uncle John McLaren, “father” of Golden Gate Park, who died here recently. The articles were written by the late J. Lawrence Toole. By J. Lawrence Toole As John McLaren entered the ninth decade of this life, those who knew him best and had known him longest agreed that if he ever could be persuaded to discuss the philosophy of his life he’d say simply: “I’ve always managed to be happy in my work and I’ve always done it the best I could.” Or he would say, as he has…
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Midwinter Fair of 90’s Gardeners 1st Triumph (Part 10)
Monday, January 25, 1943 The Call-Bulletin presents, herewith, the ninth of a series of intimate articles describing the life and work of “Uncle John” McLaren, famed “father” of Golden Gate Park. The series was written by J. Lawrence Toole, noted San Francisco newspaperman. By J. Lawrence Toole When John McLaren, at 92, planted the first tree for the 1939 Golden Gate International Exposition, he grinned at the fine new and shining spade that trembled a little in his shaking hands and remarked: “Well, it’s a pretty spade, anyway.” Behind the remark were memories of other spades he had handled in famous exposition first-tree plantings in San Francisco. For John McLaren…
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Park Sand Set by Europe Grass (Part 9)
Friday, January 22, 1943 The Call-Bulletin presents, herewith, the ninth of a series of intimate articles describing the life and work of Uncle John McLaren, “father” of Golden Gate Park. The articles were written by J. Lawrence Toole, noted San Francisco newspaperman. By J. Lawrence Toole Creation of Golden Gate Park, in John McLaren’s opinion, and in the opinion of world famous arborealists and horticulturalists, was, essentially, an unprecedented horticultural experiment on a vast scale. Success of this gigantic experiment, to which John McLaren devoted more than half a century of his life, is pictured in the surpassing beauty of the park today, and reflected in the summer and winter…
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Big Fern Tree Garden Pride of Park Builder (Part 8)
Thursday, January 21, 1943 The Call-Bulletin presents, herewith, the eight in a series of intimate articles describing the life of “Uncle John” McLaren, famed “father” of Golden Gate Park. The series was written by J. Lawrence Toole, noted San Francisco newspaperman. By J. Lawrence Toole They called John McLaren a landscape engineer and the world acknowledges he was without an equal in that profession. But McLaren didn’t like the title, or any title. First, last and all the time, he was a gardener, and had been since the first day he was able to toddle among the flowers around the humble Scotch cottage where he was born. Golden Gate Park…
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Windmills at Park Brought McLaren Joy (Part 7)
Wednesday, January 20, 1943 The Call-Bulletin presents, herewith, the seventh in a series of articles on the life of Uncle John McLaren “father” of Golden Gate Park, who died here last week. The articles were written by the late J. Lawrence Toole, noted San Francisco newspaperman. By J. Lawrence Toole “From out of wastes of windswept sand, little by little there grew into existence what is generally conceded to be the most artistically conceived and the best planted park in the world… The innumerable steps in its splendid process of evolution are plainly evidenced to the beholder today in the great stretches of meadowy playgrounds, densely forested hillsides and swales,…
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Expert Made Stow Lake By Lining It With Clay (Part 6)
Tuesday 19 January 1943 The Call-Bulletin presents, herewith, the sixth in a series of articles on the life of Uncle John McLaren “father” of Golden Gate Park, who died here last week. The articles were written by the late J. Lawrence Toole, noted San Francisco newspaperman. By J. Lawrence Toole John McLaren, asked about Stow Lake or the Chain of Lakes or any of the other fascinating lakes in the park, all his creations, and he referred you to old and forgotten, and mostly lost, annual reports of the many Park Commissions under which he served. He never burdened his mind with exact dates or figures, which is one of…
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Scot Enlisted Wealthy S.F. Men to Aid in Park (Part 5)
Monday 18 January 1943 The fifth in a series of articles on the life of Uncle John McLaren is presented herewith by The Call-Bulletin. Their author, the late J. Lawrence Toole, noted San Francisco newspaperman, was a friend of the man who developed Golden Gate Park. By J. Lawrence Toole Strawberry Hill, with its native oaks, and atop of it the McSweeney Panorama, later shaken down in 1906, was here, of course, when John McLaren came, but there was no waterfall leaping down its steep sides and no beautiful, winding lake at its base. Both of these he added to the beauty of the park. The story of the falls,…
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Playground Dream Made Real by $50,000 Bequest (Part 4)
Saturday, 16 January 1943 The fourth in a series of articles on the life of Uncle John McLaren is presented herewith by The Call-Bulletin. Their author, the late J. Lawrence Toole, noted San Francisco newspaperman, was a friend of the man who developed Golden Gate Park. By J. Lawrence Toole The old Ocean House neat the Ocean Beach, old time mecca of San Francisco’s fashionable and carriage folk, was still a popular resort when John McLaren came to the park more than half a century ago, and his face lit up with memories at the reading of these bits from an old article. “The Ocean Side House was for a…
