Hagerstown Park was created in response to the national urban park and City Beautiful movements and to a period of unprecedented commercial and industrial growth within Hagerstown. Reclaimed land formerly used by light industries was transformed into a picturesque retreat and civic center. Between 1890 and 1930, Hagerstown was the second-largest manufacturing center in Maryland, tripling in population. The area was redeveloped as an upper-middle-class residential neighborhood and 105-acre urban park, while retaining the Greek Revival house (1845) and mill-race as the last remnants of the former Heyser Farm and mill site. Burnap’s design featured a spring-fed lake, meandering paths, stone walls, terracing, rustic pavilions, and a classical stuccoed-frame bandshell. Decorative iron gateways mark formal entrances along Virginia Avenue, across from the exuberant Colonial Revival and Queen Anne residences.
Serving as part of the park’s civic function, the Beaux-Arts classical Washington County Museum of Fine Arts overlooks the park’s lake. A gift to the city from artist William Henry Singer Jr. and his wife, Anna, the museum includes works ranging from nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century American artists to European Old Masters.