Mile Square Regional Park is a park located in
Fountain Valley, California, United States. It includes two lakes, three 18-hole golf courses, archery range, baseball and softball fields, picnic shelters, and a urban nature area planted with California native plants, a 55-acre (223,000 m
2) recreation center with tennis courts, basketball courts, racquetball courts, a gymnasium, the Kingston Boys & Girls Club, and a community center. This regional park was built on a naval landing field soon after the city was incorporated.
James Kanno
James Kanno (December 22, 1925 – July 15, 2017) served as the first mayor of Fountain Valley, California from 1957 to 1962. He was one of the first mayors of Asian descent in the United States.
Biography
Kanno was born in an unincorporated ...
, one of America's first Japanese American mayors, led the effort to create the park.
The park derives its name from the near-perfect square of land that it occupies, bounded by Edinger and Warner Avenues on the north and south sides, and Brookhurst and Euclid Streets on the west and east sides, respectively. It measures on a side, for a total area of one square mile, or .
Background
In 1942, the Navy purchased of agricultural land for Mile Square Naval Outer Landing Field, which used as an auxiliary for
Naval Air Station, Los Alamitos. Three landing fields were constructed in a triangular shape in the center of this area, with each field being approximately in length. It was used for carrier deck qualification practice by Navy aircraft. In March 1967,
Orange County
Orange County most commonly refers to:
*Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area
Orange County may also refer to:
U.S. counties
*Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando
*Orange County, Indiana
*Orange County, New ...
entered into a long-term lease with the Navy Department for the perimeter area of the site which allowed the county to develop this area for regional park purposes. Military operations in the center airfield ceased in 1974.
It is now operated by
OC Parks
Orange County Parks, more commonly abbreviated to OC Parks, is a government agency that maintains and oversees the public parks of Orange County, California. The agency operates both natural and manmade parks of the region. OC Parks is responsibl ...
.
The park was built in several phases:
*Phase I was opened with of land in 1970
*Phase II added the baseball diamond and a children's play area in 1973
*Phase III extended the park northward to Edinger Avenue in 1976
*Phase IV development commenced in the spring of 1987 and included the construction of an executive golf course.
Del Taco, a fast food chain based in Orange County, filmed a commercial on the south end of the park in early 2007, celebrating its 76th anniversary.
See also
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields
Abandoned & Little-Known Airfields is an online database An online database is a database accessible from a local network or the Internet, as opposed to one that is stored locally on an individual computer or its attached storage (such as a CD) ...
References
External links
OCParks.com: Mile Square Regional ParkMile Square Golf Course
Regional parks in California
Parks in Orange County, California
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