Regional parks deliver for 70 Years.

Bring out the cake and candles: After years of creating recreation opportunities and open space got residents, East Bay Regional Park District is celebrating its 70th anniversary. Considered now to be the largest regional park district in the nation, the story began with small roots in 1934 during the Great Depression.

A group of citizens gathered together to tax themselves in order to use the money to preserve open space for parks. They were taxed a whopping five cents per $100 of assessed property, which was a lot of money in the Depression era considering East Bay county had more than 50,000 people out of work. The first three parks purchased by the District in 1936 encompassed more than 2,000 acres, and were bought for only $300 per acre.

Today, the park district includes 65 parks with 90,000 acres between them. Tilden Regional Park in Berkeley, Calif., still houses the carousel built in 1911 by the Hershell-Spillman Company and is only one of two in the country. The District is also home to the Sibley Volcanic Regional Preserve in Oakland, the Quarry Lakes in Fremont and the Iron Horse Regional Trail.