Dennis the Menace Playground Development Scrapbook 1952-1957
Finding aid created by Monterey Public Library staff using RecordEXPRESS
Monterey Public Library
2023
625 Pacific Street
Monterey, California 93940
(831) 646-3741
https://monterey.org/library/services/research/history_room/index.php
Title: Dennis the Menace Playground Development Scrapbook 1952-1957
Dates: 1952-1957
Collection Number: ARC 537
Creator/Collector:
Extent: 1 scrapbook: 50 x 51 cm.
Repository:
Monterey Public Library
Monterey, California 93940
Abstract: Scrapbook documents the planning, fundraising, and development of Dennis the Menace Playground in Monterey.
Language of Material: English
Access by appointment only; contact Local History Librarian or designated staff.
Reproduction by Local History Librarian or other designated staff; may be restricted due to condition of the materials.
[Identification of item]. Dennis the Menace Playground Development Scrapbook 1952-1957. Collection Number: ARC 537. Monterey
Public Library
Gift from the Monterey Peninsula Junior Chamber of Commerce.
Biography/Administrative History
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.
Scope and Content of Collection
It contains typed memos (digests) outlining plans for funding of the Playground, including master plan map; news clippings,
black-and-white photographs and a color slide related to fundraising activities and advertisements; two descriptive brochures;
correspondence; news stories and pictures of the Monterey Fishermenʼs Festival in which the Jaycees participated; flyers and
a certificate signed by Hank Ketcham; blue prints of play apparatus (Spring Gym, Giant Swing, The Thing) and recreational
areas (the wading pool); photographs of the designer, Arch Garner, trying out the play apparatus; news stories on the moving
of the railroad steam engine No. 212853 (donated by Southern Pacific Railroad) to the Playground; news stories and announcements
about the grand opening on November 17, 1956; black-and-white photographs of the Playground in overview and of children playing
on the equipment and in the wading pool and sand areas; publicity correspondence; articles about the Playground that appeared
in local, regional, and national publications; correspondence about a Universal Pictures Newsreel segment on the Playground;
correspondence from numerous civic and government organizations expressing interest and appreciation of the facility; and
publicity, including a 10-minute 16mm film, a brochure, and 6-page typed information letter produced by the Monterey Jaycees
about the development of the Playground.