About the Area: This city park in north Norman is 160 acres. Before the 1930s, the land was gently rolling tall- and mid-grass grassland with an intermittent creek running through it. During this time, Central State Hospital managed the land as pasture for its farm operation. Some portions of the area now in the park were under cultivation, as evidenced by contours seen today that were established to impede soil erosion. During the 1930s or later, hospital staff and patients dammed the creek for a pond, built stone bridges, a roadway around the large pond and constructed several concrete picnic tables to overlook the water. Many of the trees found in the park were planted at that time. A cemetery, now unused, was located in the far northeast corner of the quarter section. While popular with many long-time Norman residents, the park probably well known because of its association with the late ornithologist, George Miksch Sutton, who frequented the area alone or with students until his death in 1982.

University of Oklahoma
Oklahoma State University
University of Central Oklahoma
Oklahoma City Community College
Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation
Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History
George Miksch Sutton Avian Research Center, Bartlesville, OK
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Tulsa, OK