Scrapbook documents the planning, fundraising, and development of Dennis the Menace Playground in Monterey.

In the spring of 1952, the Monterey City Planning Commission designated a rubbish dump site at Lake El Estero for a new city recreation area, including a baseball park, a picnic area, and a childrenʼs playground. The Monterey Peninsula Junior Chamber of Commerce, under President Charles F. Warren, undertook the project of funding and building the playground. They enlisted the popular cartoonist Hank Ketcham to design the playground, and Mr. Ketcham employed the designer and sculptor Arch Garner to create the play apparatus. The Jaycees raised money, and obtained donated material and skilled labor for the project, including the transport of a railroad switch engine and tender to the site by the Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Ord. Monterey city crews graded the site, installed irrigation and plants, and erected fencing. The playground, named after Ketchamʼs comic strip character, Dennis the Menace, was completed by this joint community effort in one year, after some three years of planning, in the fall of 1956. Charles Warren, coincidentally, was acting city manager at that time.

1 scrapbook: 50 x 51 cm.

Reproduction by Local History Librarian or other designated staff; may be restricted due to condition of the materials.

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