 Cornelius B. Erwin, one of the original proprietors, gave the city an endowment for maintenance of the park.Principal construction of the park roadway took place in 1870-72, and was halted by the financial Panic of 1873.In 1919 the city designated the park as the site of its World War I memorial, an Art Deco structure designed by H. Van Buren Magonigle and installed in 1928.