In 1937, the city of Brookings began a free garbage collection service that continued until December 1960, using the present site of Larson Hill as its first city dump. This open landfill served city and county residents, and everything was discarded there, including dead animals and a World War II P-51 Mustang fighter plane the university no longer needed, now buried somewhere under the sledding hill. To control rats at the dump, the city sometimes hired professionals to place poison meat, usually from dead horses, around the site, and children were barred because of the danger. In 1960, as preparations were made for construction of the new hospital, the city bought 160 acres 2 miles south of town and opened a new landfill there in May, just south of the current softball complex. Just before Christmas 1975, the Park and Recreation Board received approval to buy about 2 acres next to the sledding hill for more park space. In September 1980, Dale Larson, president of Larson Manufacturing, announced that his company would provide one-half the money needed to develop a 17-acre park near the Larson complex, and in February 1981 the city received a matching federal grant to begin developing what became Larson Park.