Eleanor Pardee Park

9.6 acre neighborhood park. Second largest neighborhood park in Palo Alto (largest is Bol). About half of the park is developed (huge expanse of level and mounding turf, playgrounds, picnic areas); about half undeveloped (community gardens).

History

Eleanor Pardee died at age 15 of typhoid fever in 1896. Her mother, Emily Eliot Pardee Karns Dixon, deeded her 10-acre property, complete with house, to the city of Palo Alto in 1920.  Emily also gifted the city with real estate in San Francisco, the income of which would go to converting the property into a park which she wanted named Eleanora Parque in memory of her daughter. In 1957 the southern half of the property was developed, in the early 1970s the run-down house was razed, and in the early 1980s most of the remaining five acres were turned into community gardens.

Location

851 Center Drive, Palo Alto, CA 94301  View Map

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