Doyle Community Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Doyle Community Park |
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The main entrance to Doyle Park is this bridge over Spring Creek built by the Work Projects Administration at the southern end of Doyle Park Drive.
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| Type | urban park |
| Location | Santa Rosa, California |
| Area | 21.76 acres (8.81 ha) |
| Operated by | City of Santa Rosa |
Doyle Community Park is a fun city park located on the eastern side of downtown Santa Rosa, California. It's a great place to play, relax, and enjoy nature. Two creeks, Matanzas Creek and Spring Creek, meet at the park's western end. Spring Creek forms the park's northern border, and Matanzas Creek forms its southern border.
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What Can You Do at Doyle Park?
The park has many cool things to do for everyone. On the eastern side, you'll find a fenced and lit baseball field. This field was once used by the minor league team, the Santa Rosa Pirates.
Park Facilities and Fun Areas
Doyle Park also has a clubhouse building. You'll find restrooms, playground slides, and swings for kids. There are also horseshoe pits for a classic game. If you have a dog, there are separate fenced areas for large and small dogs to play off-leash.
Picnic Spots and Trails
The park has many picnic tables with barbecue grills. Five of these spots can even be reserved for parties or gatherings. A paved trail winds through the park, perfect for walking or biking. It follows the shady areas along Spring Creek and Matanzas Creek.
Nature Along the Creeks
The trail is lined with mature oaks, maples, and California bay laurel trees. These trees create a beautiful riparian woodland (a forest along a river or creek). Before people settled here, this area was a large wetland. The creeks used to change their paths naturally when trees fell and blocked the water.
Today, the creek channels are deeper to help prevent flooding in the city. The park and its paved trail are at the original ground level of the wetland. You can find a few spots to go down closer to the creeks.
Wildlife You Might See
Doyle Park is home to lots of animals. You'll often see many Western gray squirrels running around. A group of crows (called a "murder" of crows) often gathers nearby.
Birds in the Park
If you enjoy birdwatching, you'll be happy here! People have spotted many different kinds of birds. These include sparrows, finches, towhees, jays, woodpeckers, robins, bluebirds, and mockingbirds. You might also see chickadees, phoebes, kinglets, warblers, nuthatches, and titmouse.
Who Was Frank Pierce Doyle?
Doyle Community Park is named after a special person, Frank Doyle (1863-1948). Frank and his father, Manville Doyle, started the Exchange Bank of Santa Rosa in 1890.
A Park as a Memorial
Frank bought the land for Doyle Community Park as a way to remember his son. His 13-year-old son passed away in 1921 during a tonsillectomy surgery (a surgery to remove tonsils).
The "Father of the Golden Gate"
Frank Doyle was also very important in improving local transportation. He strongly supported building the famous Golden Gate Bridge. Two months before the bridge opened, Frank was the first private citizen to ride in a car across it during a tour. Because of his efforts, he was called the "Father of the Golden Gate."
Helping Students Through Scholarships
When Frank Doyle passed away, a large part of his bank's stock (50.4%) was put into a special fund. This fund is called the Frank P. Doyle and Polly O’Meara Doyle Scholarship Fund. Since 1948, this scholarship has given over $90 million to more than 135,000 students from Sonoma County. These students attend Santa Rosa Junior College. The fund also provides $2,000 each year to help maintain Doyle Community Park.
