The Golden Gate Gardener
John Mclaren, the Scot behind the lush parks and gardens of California
Kenny MacAskill remembers John McLaren, the Scot behind the San Fransisco park
IFIRST heard of John Mclaren while visiting the St Andrew’s Society of San Francisco. He was an early member of the organisation and they were proud to laud him. Most people in Scotland will have never heard of him but many will have caught a glimpse of his vision that became a reality.
In conservation, his work is often overshadowed by his contemporary – another John. John Muir’s name adorns the walking route spanning central Scotland and the house where the 19th-century naturalist was brought up is a fascinating Dunbar visitor attraction.
His fame is even greater in the US, where he’s revered as “the Father of the National Parks.” Anyone having the good fortune to visit Yosemite, Sequoia or any of the wonderful natural spaces there will no doubt understand why.
It was John Mclaren, however, not John Muir that delivered Golden Gate Park which appears as the green space in photographs and films of the world-famous bridge. Anyone cycling over the bridge, an absolute must for those fit enough to manage it, will pass across the wonderful space that he designed and had built.
Mclaren was born in Bannockburn in 1846, only six years after Muir, but they wouldn’t meet until they had both emigrated to the USA.
Starting work as a dairyman, it seems he soon discovered it wasn’t for him. The natural environment and horticulture were what appealed to him and, moving to Edinburgh, he gained an apprenticeship at the Royal Botanical Gardens and it was there he learned his trade.
His work wasn’t restricted to activities on that lovely site but included planting grasses on sand dunes along the
“The natural environment was protected and wherever possible left unspoiled”
banks of the River Forth. Perhaps, even where the John Muir Way now runs.
But, as with Muir, he left for the US, heading to California in 1870. There he found work on an estate in the San Mateo foothills, before moving on to another in Palo Alto, finally planting trees on the shores of what’s now known as the Bay Area.
Anyone crossing the Golden Gate Bridge will end up there, in what’s now a highly popular and quite exclusive area.
Of course, when Mclaren arrived the bridge hadn’t been built, but he crossed the water anyway and was soon appointed park superintendent for San Francisco in 1887.
The city was booming as the Californian gold rush, which began in 1849, saw it become the state’s largest city.
Although he undoubtedly had green fingers and could make things bloom, Mclaren was known to prefer a natural look for the parks and estates he both managed and developed.
On taking the park superintendent post, he sought a budget of $30,000 for development. A considerable sum of money which shows the vision he had and the respect he must have commanded, as well as the wealth the city possessed.
Those funds and more allowed him to start work with a will and a passion. Not for him were structures and buildings, for he preferred trees and plants.
His idea of urban parks mirrored that of John Muir’s rural ones, where the natural environment was protected and wherever possible left unspoiled. The bane of his life appears to have been statues, which no doubt many wealthy citizens wanted erected for their grandeur and glorification.
Loathing them and referring to them with the Scots word “stookies”, he hid them behind trees and shrubs, doubtless to the chagrin of the great and the good. Another pet hate of his, which will resonate with any child, was “keep off the grass” signs.
Apparently, such was his animus that their absence had been a stipulation, along with the request for funds, upon taking up the post. He wanted the park to be free and enjoyed by all San Francisco’s citizens – not just a manicured, protected garden filled with rules and statues to honour the elite.
Little would he have known then, that when the tragic earthquake struck the city in 1906 his famous park would be covered with tents and other make shift shelters for the homeless and the destitute.
In an age where we worry about humanity’s abuse of our planet, he was prescient in so many ways. Not only did he seek to cherish and protect the environment, he sought to use it harmoniously and mitigate our human footprint. It’s reckoned he was responsible for the planting of up to two million trees during his lifetime. An incredible feat at a time when timber was a major industry and the importance of trees to tackle global warming was unknown.
Mclaren also constructed windmills to pump water in the park and the city’s street sweepings were used as fertilizer. Sand washed ashore by the Pacific Ocean or blown in by westerly winds was used to build the embankment upon which the “Great Highway” now runs up San Francisco’s western shore.
Despite his rigorous demands, his efforts were greatly appreciated. At the age of 70, his salary was doubled, as he not only continued in his role but was given lifetime tenure over the park he’d established.
Other green spaces in his adopted city and beyond were established by him as his reputation spread.
He remained a humble man, perhaps explaining why he’s so unsung. He died at the age of 96 in 1943, considerably later than his friend Muir.
Such was the reverence for him that his body lay in state at the San Francisco City Hall before his casket was taken one last time through the green space that was to be his legacy.
Another park in the south of the city and where he lived in a lodge now bears his name and, ironically, given his views on them, a statue of him stands in Golden Gate Park. Erected when he was alive, he’d had it hidden behind shrubs but now despite his “stooky” strictures, it’s out in the open for all to see.
“The bane of his life appears to have been statues”