Shell Mound Park

Shell Mound Park was a year-round picnic and pleasure grounds from the 1870’s through the early 20th Century. The park was founded along the mouth of Temescal Creek and what was the coastline at the time. The owner built a pavilion atop the shellmound, and had picnic tables, dancing floors, a dining hall, and a shooting range among the willow grove that the park encompassed.

Considered a particularly beautiful, windless site, news stories and pictures of the time paint it as an idyllic place to enjoy nature — in sharp contrast to how the area later morphed into an area for industry and transportation.