Grinnell Park

Hudson and Concord Roads
Sudbury Town Center

The first references to the site of the current Grinnell Park are from 1898 when the land was occupied by a store, which may have originally been a school. In the late 1920’s the establishment was called The Garfield-Parmenter store. In 1929, Henry Ford commissioned the store to be moved to Marlborough on Route 20 just over the Sudbury line. Today it is called the Country Store.

After the store was moved, Henry Ford continued to own the property in Sudbury. In 1931, after considering locations for a World War Memorial for twelve years, the Planning Board recommended the so-called Ford lot because it would add beauty to Town Center, would eliminate the possibility of “detrimental” building to the lot and could be “acquired without expense to the town.” By 1934, the Memorial Park was approved and from 1934 through 1937 it was a PWA project. In 1936 an “excellent” boulder was placed in the park and a tablet listing the World War I veterans from Sudbury was installed. Records indicate that Memorial Park was one of the locations used during the Memorial Day ceremony in 1938.

On Memorial Day in 1983 the memorial at the Park was dedicated to the late Frank H. Grinnell, a World War II veteran, for his many years of service to the town. Since then the park has been known as Grinnell Park. Planting and maintenance of the park is one of the major ongoing projects of The Thursday Garden Club.