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HISTORY The land for Perry Park was purchased upon recommendation of the Parks and Recreation Committee in 1966 . The first use of the park was the planting of 2 , 000 pine trees by a local Boy Scout Troop in May of 1967, intended for subsequent trans- planting to other parks. In 1968, a set of development plans for Perry Park was drawn by the St. Paul Recreation Department. These plans included active sports areas in accordance with the desires of the committee to provide active recreation facilities for Arden Hills residents . At that time, investigations began into obtaining the fill needed for a low area designated by the plans as a future baseball diamond. Minutes of the meetings of the Parks and Recreation Committee reflect that filling and grading of the area intended for the active sports area continued well into 1973, and that the process was difficult to complete. Additional concept plans for development of the upper level of Perry Park were prepared by a landscape architect in 1969 and detailed design and specifications drawn by consulting engineers in 1970 and 1971. The hockey rink and warming house at the park were installed and in operation by February of 1972, completed in 1973. Also in 1972 , the road construc- tion was completed and the athletic field sodded. In 1973 a portion of the perimeter of the park was fenced to provide protection to adjacent residential areas from stray balls . The original plan for Perry Park included a 90 ' baseball field on the lower level of the park. Development of the field was delayed due to problems associated with filling and leveling the area. Discussion and controversy surrounded the 90 ' baseball field topic over the next several years. The most recent (July 1975) decision by the Parks and Recrea- tion Committee concerning the lower level was to construct a multi-purpose field in that area. Plans incorporating this decision are presently being developed.