In 1912, Dr. A.J. Chandler’s town design centered on a large rectangular park covered in Bermuda grass and trees, with footbridges crossing the Commonwealth Canal that ran east and west through its middle; it stretched from today’s San Marcos Place to Arizona Place and from Boston Street north to Buffalo Street, and it long served as a gathering place while Arizona Avenue originally curved around it on both sides. In 1940, the Town Council approved expanding Arizona Avenue as a state highway, dividing the park in half to improve safety and handle growing traffic; although local residents and Dr. Chandler disliked the change, they ultimately accepted it because the highway brought more travelers and business. During World War II, the city placed an Honor Roll billboard in the park to recognize local men and women serving in the military, and by war’s end it displayed more than 700 names, including 13 women and 18 servicemen who died. As the U.S. sent troops overseas, Chandler citizens and the American Legion created a larger district honor roll for service members from Chandler, Goodyear, now Ocotillo, Higley, Queen Creek, and Chandler Heights, raising community funds to hire Mesa sign designer Pedro Guerrero, who with others built in ten days a wooden sign 16 feet high and 30 feet wide in the park’s southeast section; dedicated on May 30, 1943, it grew from 330 names to more than 700 by 1945. After the war, veterans sought a permanent replacement, and on Memorial Day in 1949 the American Legion dedicated a stone monument with a bronze plaque honoring those of the Chandler community who served in the Armed Forces of the United States so that peace, freedom, and justice might not perish from the earth; today that memorial stands on the east side of A. J. Chandler Park. In later years, the park featured annual flowers, holiday decorations, and an F86-D fighter jet display like those used at Williams Air Force Base, the Tumbleweed Tree has drawn admirers every December since 1957, and in 1986 the city remodeled the park to its current design and layout.