John McLaren

John Hays McLaren (December 20, 1846 – January 12, 1943) was a Scottish-born American horticulturalist. For 53 years (1890–1943 and worked as a dairyman. He also worked in the gardens of Bannockburn House in Banockburn, before going to study horticulture at the Edinburgh Royal Botanical Gardens, where he worked as an apprentice gardener and planted grasses anchoring the beach dunes along the Firth of Forth. McLaren emigrated to the United States in 1870.

Lithia Park, Ashland, Oregon The small town of Ashland, Oregon, commissioned McLaren to design Lithia Park in 1914, just a few years after the park was established in 1908. Still considered the "crown jewel" of Ashland, the park covers 100 acres (0.4 km2), extending from the center of town ("The Plaza") up Ashland Creek to the foothills of Mount Ashland. It includes two ponds, a Japanese garden, tennis courts, two public greens, a bandshell (outdoor stage) and miles of hiking trails. The name Lithia comes from the natural mineral water in Ashland, Lithia water. The world-famous Oregon Shakespeare Festival now borders the lower portion of the park. The surrounding watershed, which supplies drinking water and hydroelectricity to the city, also includes miles of mountain biking trails. The park is the start and finish for the annual Spring Thaw mountain biking race for pros and amateurs.

San Jose Municipal Rose Garden In 1931, McLaren, along with Dr J. Horace McFarland, president of the American Rose Society, and the City of San Jose's planning director, Michael H. Antonacci, drew up the original plans for the San Jose Municipal Rose Garden.

Later life McLaren had a shrewd and aggressive style of management but was so highly respected that, at the age of 70, he was given lifetime tenure over Golden Gate Park and his salary doubled. An avenue in the Sea Cliff district of San Francisco was named after him during his lifetime, and he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of California at Berkeley. He is credited with planting two million trees during his lifetime.

Death and legacy

McLaren died January 12, 1943, in San Francisco, at the age of 96. His body lay in state in the San Francisco City Hall Rotunda. Afterwards, the funeral cortege drove his casket through Golden Gate Park as a special honor. He was buried in Colma at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park.

A small statue of McLaren was erected in the park in 1921, but within a year he hid it away. It was discovered after his death and installed in John McLaren Memorial Rhododendron Dell. McLaren Park in the southern part of San Francisco is named after John McLaren, as is in Golden Gate Park, where he lived until his death. Tilden Regional Park, in the East Bay, has a meadow named after McLaren.