{"nrhp_refnum":"04000812","name":"Hillcrest Park","other_names":["Reservoir Hill"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"200 Brea Blvd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fullerton","county":"Orange County","state":"CA","lat":33.88372495850007,"lon":-117.9212087057612,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-08-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Social History","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Hillcrest Park is a 35.6-acre municipal park at 200 Brea Boulevard in Fullerton, Orange County, California, on land purchased in 1920 and dedicated in 1924. It was landscaped from plans by park superintendent Johann George Seupelt and later expanded with Depression-era stonework.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the park as a largely intact historically designed landscape, combining formal and naturalistic areas with the city's first reservoir. It highlights the hand-built flagstone work and structures completed from 1933 to 1941 with relief-program labor, and the park's design by Seupelt, whose plans won a Southern California landscape competition in 1925.","narrative":"Hillcrest Park is Fullerton's largest and most historically significant park, covering 35.6 hilly acres near the city center. The city bought the land in 1920, and park superintendent Johann George Seupelt, a Bavarian-born horticulturist and landscape architect, drew up the plans. Roads and trails were laid out by mule team and plow in 1923-24, and the park was dedicated in May 1924. Between 1931 and 1941, relief workers funded by programs such as the RFC, CWA, SERA and WPA built much of its character by hand, using flagstone for stairs, walls, benches, barbecues, a bridge and a 1936 electric fountain. The park also holds the city's first reservoir, built in 1922, plus picnic areas, a turf bowl and a recreation center built as an American Legion post. It retains its original design intent, vistas and circulation, and it was designated a local landmark in 1980. The nominated area is the original acreage.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Johann George Seupelt (landscape plan); Harry F. Byerrum Sr. (roads and paths); WPA, CWA, SERA and RFC relief workers (stonework and structures)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition with a high degree of integrity; rockwork in reasonably good condition. A master plan adopted in 1996 guides restoration and redevelopment.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.783429-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/04000812.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000812/5e56614a87-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000812/5e56614a87-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Traveler100","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HillcrestPark01c.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Traveler100</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HillcrestPark01c.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123860242","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillcrest_Park_(Fullerton)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q111187111"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/orange-county/hillcrest-park-04000812/"}