History
A brief history of D.W. Field Park
1925 - 1934:
Daniel Waldo Field
Daniel Waldo Field was a prominent and affluent Brocktonian who made many contributions to the city during his life from 1856 - 1944. Born to farmers, his business interests began at a young age and he became successful in the shoe industry that Brockton was once famous for. His appreciation for nature yielded many results, including pursuing a degree in Biology from MIT in his late 40’s, serving as the City of Brockton Park Commissioner from 1905 - 1944, and, perhaps most notably, creating D.W. Field Park.
Over time, Field acquired 450 acres of land in the Montello section of Brockton and donated it to the city in 1925 for the purpose of a park. He then donated additional land in 1926 for Cross Pond and the D.W. Field Golf Course. In 1930, he donated more land in the Town of Avon to complete his park vision.
Field supervised park construction on site daily, the bulk of which took place from 1925 - 1934. There is no evidence that he drew any plans, but there were preliminary plans drawn by landscape architects Samuel P. Negus and William H. Punchard in 1926 and a “Lake Parkway” plan prepared by the city engineer in 1925 that Field drew inspiration from.
The Fields had no children, and considered the park and their other philanthropic endeavors their legacy to the city. D.W. Field partially endowed the maintenance of the park, which is still in use today.
His biography, D.W. Field - Impressions Of Those Who Know Him, was written in 1932 by Ralph Freeman Paulding. In 2014, Kenneth E. Bingham published a compilation of his biography and a history of the park titled Daniel Waldo Field and D.W. Field Park - A History, presented by the D.W. Field Park Association.
1997- Present:
National Historic Place
In the year 2000, D.W. Field Park was listed as a National Historic Place by the National Park Service for its significance in the American urban park movement, for its role in the development of Brockton’s water resources, and its embodiment of the distinctive characteristics of naturalistic style park planning pioneered by Frederick Law Olmsted.
It is thanks to the hard work of a group of volunteers who petitioned community support and submitted the application to the United Stated Department of the Interior that D.W. Field Park holds this distinction. Most notably, Barbara Shinnick led this effort, collecting over 2,500 signatures of support and compiling a detailed description and history of the park.
These volunteers formed the D.W. Field Park Association in 1997, and after successfully placing the park on the National Register of Historic Places, continue to advocate for and steward the park in collaboration with the City of Brockton’s Parks Department.
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