I don't know this for a certainty, but it's a reasonable inference that Garfield Park was named for James Garfield, the 20th President of the United States and/or his widow, Lucretia. James Garfield had a long and distinguished career in Congress, but he had been President for less than a year when he was shot and eventually succumbed to his injuries. He left his wife and seven children behind. Lucretia Garfield lived out the summers of her long life in Ohio, but her winters were spent in South Pasadena. She had Greene and Greene design her winter home on Buena Vista Street. Mrs. Garfield entertained Teddy Roosevelt in South Pasadena, she volunteered for the Red Cross and she died in South Pasadena in 1919. The Garfield House still stands. For the second half of the twentieth century it was owned and occupied by an engineer/inventer and father of ten including Doublemint twins. Now the Garfield House is home to a songwriter musician producer.
Then there is Garfield Park. For a while, when my children were in preschool and early grades, Garfield Park was the center of my social life. Weekend after weekend, there were parties under the pergola, with sheet cakes and pinatas and people dressed like Ninja Turtles and Batman. There were picnics there with my husband's family, who loved parks in a way that went far beyond anything my parents conceived of. They barbecued and played Frisbee and bocce and ate and watched the kids. These days I'm likely to go to Garfield Park for Shakespeare or summer concerts. And occasional painting. I brought my dog Frankie with me. It wasn't my first paint-out with Frankie, but it was the first time Frankie let me really paint.
