Records of the Contra Costa Park Council, a citizens’ group formed in 1951 to promote active use of park land and preserve open space in Contra Costa County as well as around the Bay Area. The collection documents the Council’s collaboration with conservation organizations, planning officials, and lawmakers at the city, county, and state level.

The Contra Costa Park Council (formerly the Contra Costa Park and Recreation Council) was established in 1951 as a citizens’ group devoted to addressing the creation and preservation of recreation areas in the county. At the time of the Council’s founding, the county was estimated to be home to only one square mile of public park land. Parks, in fact, were not a county responsibility. The Council’s initial activities included recruiting members and launching public information campaigns with the aim of convincing the county government to assume this responsibility: these efforts resulted in county officials’ decision to sanction a park system that would be governed by a county Park Commission (later the Contra Costa Recreation and Natural Resources Commission). In 1964, the Council successfully pushed forward an initiative to annex the county’s parks system to the East Bay Regional Park District, which would help to give the county’s parks a stable funding source and more secure future.

5 cartons, 1 oversize folder (6.25 linear feet)

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Collection is open for research.