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More information needed. This time line from the Richmond, Virginia library but a major confusion is Idlewild Amusement Park which was at about the same location. On a Virginia Government Web Site one picture for Byrd Park is actually Idlewild !!!!


1888 - With a major effort, Colonel Cutshaw convinced City Council to purchase an additional 240 acres of farmland from the Shields and Robinson families, including the family cemetery for the creation of a city park. An electric streetcar line brought visitors to the Ashland Street stop near the park area in the 1890s.

1890 - The park opens a nursery to plant and raise trees to be transplanted along city streets. Over 60,000 trees were planted in the nursery. Park trees planted in symmetrical rows are the remaining nursery trees that grew too large for transplantation. The nursery remained for 14 years until 1904/.

1906 - Reservoir Park is renamed Byrd Park for William Byrd II, the man credited with the layout of the city. Three man-made lakes will be built in a natural ravine in the park: Fountain Lake, Swan Lake and Sheilds Lake.

1915 - Swan Lake and Shields Lake are completed around 1915. Shields Lake (named for the Sheilds family - note the spelling variation)is used for swimming after World War I (after 1917). A bed of white stone was uncovered during the excavation for the construction of these lakes -- city streets that had not been paved since the Civil War were finally paved with stones from this stone bed.