Dr John Hays McLaren (1846 – 1943) served as superintendent of the Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...

 in San Francisco, CA

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 for 53 years.

Born at Bannockburn

Bannockburn

Bannockburn is a village immediately south of the city of Stirling in Scotland. It is named after the Bannock Burn, a burn running through the village before flowing into the River Forth.-History:...

, near Stirling

Stirling

Stirling is a city and former ancient burgh in Scotland, and is at the heart of the wider Stirling council area. The city is clustered around a large fortress and medieval old-town beside the River Forth...

 in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, and worked as a dairyman before studying horticulture at the Edinburgh Royal Botanical Gardens where he worked as an apprentice gardener's helper. He planted grasses anchoring the beach dunes along the Firth of Forth then emigrated to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1870 and worked on the George Howard

George Howard

George Howard may refer to:*George Howard , governor of Maryland, 1831–1833*George Howard , American smooth jazz saxophonist, known for his R&B sound...

 estate in the San Mateo foothills, then on the Leland Stanford

Leland Stanford

Amasa Leland Stanford was an American tycoon, industrialist, robber baron, politician and founder of Stanford University.-Early years:...

 estate in Palo Alto and planted trees on the Coyote Point on the shore of the Bay.

He was friends with John Muir

John Muir

John Muir was a Scottish-born American naturalist, author, and early advocate of preservation of wilderness in the United States. His letters, essays, and books telling of his adventures in nature, especially in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California, have been read by millions...

, and dedicated his life to vigorous advocacy and development of the 1017 acres (4.1 km²) Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park

Golden Gate Park, located in San Francisco, California, is a large urban park consisting of of public grounds. Configured as a rectangle, it is similar in shape but 20% larger than Central Park in New York, to which it is often compared. It is over three miles long east to west, and about half a...

, one of the largest public parks in the world, using considerable political skill in addition to his remarkable gardening skill. Appointed Park Superintendent in 1887, he requested thirty thousand dollars a year for park building. One of John McLaren's stipulations before taking the superintendent job was, "There will be no 'Keep off the Grass" signs." His horticultural philosophy was to achieve a natural look, typified in his dislike for statuary, calling them "stookies" and planting trees and shrubs to hide them. He built two windmills to pump water to his park and had the sweepings from San Francisco streets delivered as fertilizer. When ocean waves and wind piled sand on the west end of the park, he began a forty year effort to pile branches, clippings and laths on the shore to capture sand and build the great berm that now holds the Great Highway

Great Highway

The Great Highway is a road in San Francisco that forms the city's western edge along the Pacific coast. It runs for approximately next to Ocean Beach...

.

He had a shrewd and aggressive style of management but was so highly respected that, at the age of 70, he was given lifetime tenure over the park and his salary doubled. An avenue in the Seacliff District of San Francisco was named after him during his lifetime, and he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of California at Berkeley. He is credited with planting two million trees during his lifetime. The McLaren Park

McLaren Park

McLaren Park is a park in south-eastern San Francisco. McLaren Park is the second largest park in San Francisco after Golden Gate Park. The park is surrounded mostly by the Excelsior, Crocker-Amazon, Visitacion Valley, Portola and University Mound neighborhoods.-History:McLaren Park was once a...

 in the southern part of San Francisco is named after John McLaren, as is McLaren Lodge in Golden Gate Park, where he lived until his death. East Bay's Tilden Park also has a meadow named after him. A small statue of McLaren was erected in the park which he had hidden away only to be discovered after his death.

After his death at the age of 96, McLaren's body lay in state in the San Francisco City Hall

San Francisco City Hall

San Francisco City Hall, re-opened in 1915, in its open space area in the city's Civic Center, is a Beaux-Arts monument to the City Beautiful movement that epitomized the high-minded American Renaissance of the 1880s to 1917. The structure's dome is the fifth largest in the world...

 Rotunda. Afterwards, the funeral cortege drove his casket through Golden Gate Park as a special honor.

Lithia Park, Ashland, Oregon

The small town of Ashland, Oregon

Ashland, Oregon

Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...

 commissioned McLaren to design Lithia Park

Lithia Park

Lithia Park is the largest and most central park of Ashland, Oregon. It consists of of forested canyonland around Ashland Creek, stretching from the downtown plaza up toward its headwaters near Mount Ashland...

 in 1914, just a few years after the park was initially established in 1908. Still considered the "crown jewel" of Ashland, the park covers 100 acres (0.4 km²), extending from the center of town ("The Plaza") up Ashland Creek to the foothills of Mount Ashland

Mount Ashland

Mount Ashland ski area is located on Mount Ashland and features 23 trails on served by four lifts, in addition to chute skiing in a glacial cirque called The Bowl. The mountain receives over of snow annually with a season from early December until mid-April...

. It includes two ponds, a Japanese garden, tennis courts, two public greens, a bandshell (outdoor stage) and miles of hiking trails. The name Lithia comes from the natural mineral water in Ashland, Lithia water

Lithia water

Lithia water is mineral water containing lithium salts.Lithia water can occur naturally in spring form. One example can be found in Ashland, Oregon's Lithia Park...

. The world famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Oregon Shakespeare Festival

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is a regional repertory theatre in Ashland, Oregon, United States. The festival annually produces eleven plays on three stages during a season that lasts from February to October...

now borders the lower portion of the park. The surrounding watershed, which supplies drinking water and hydroelectricity to the city, also includes miles of mountain biking trails. The park is the start and finish for the annual Spring Thaw mountain biking race for pros and amateurs.