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The city purchased the land for this park on October 1, 1912, from the Petrie family. The City then gave the land to the Parks Board in 1925. On July 17, 1934, the Parks Board deeded 0.305 acres of the north end of the property to the City for the widening of Main Street.
In 1950, the swimming pool was installed. Between 1959 and 1960, thousands of yards of fill and marsh humus from the Hamilton Harbour was used to develop the park. This was done at almost no cost to the Board. Unfortunately, most of the trees in the area were Elm and many of them died from the Dutch Elm Disease. Other trees were planted each year to compensate for this loss.
Parkdale Park was once the site of the Wondergrove Dance Pavilion. Fred Hicks was the man who came up with the idea of building the Pavilion. Having already owned various local dancespots throughout the years, Mr. Hicks longed for something different. So, in 1935, he built a place of his own on a small acreage of land on Parkdale Park. 
Constructed primarily of plywood, the Wondergrove was designed in a Spanish architectural style, an idea borrowed from a 1929 tire advertisement. He planted some willow trees (still standing today), brought in lots of lounge chairs, and built a bandshell, a refreshment stand, and a big wooden fireplace. He also put down a beautiful terrazzo floor which was spacious enough to handle 1,500 to 1,800 dancers. There were rules at the Wondergrove: no liquor, men had to wear ties and jackets, and, although there was no dress code for the ladies, they would not have dreamed of showing up in pants or shorts - long dresses were the norm. The music played from June 1st to Labour Day each summer for 23 years. By the late 1950's, the crowds began to thin out. The final tunes at the Wondergrove belted out during the summer of 1958. In 1961, the Dance Pavilion was torn down since it had fallen into a state of disrepair, and the area was landscaped. It may be long gone, but the Wondergrove will exist forever in the hearts and minds of all who experienced the joy and excitement it had to offer.
The park was also the former site of a "Mountie" log cabin. The wooden structure was built in 1935 by veterans of the North West Mounted Police and the Royal North West Mounted Police and was modelled after log houses the forces built in the Yukon at the turn of the century. Bill Hayward was the Mountie veteran chiefly responsible for the design and building of the cabin. It was a tourist information booth until the end of the Second World War, and then over the years, it was an ice cream and snack bar, a family home, and a clubhouse. In 1961, the cabin was taken over by the Frontiersmen. In 1971, the Happy Travellers (a 10-family camping group in the city) took it upon themselves to restore the building as a project to celebrate Hamilton's 125th anniversary. In the late 1970's the log cabin was moved and rebuilt at the Wentworth Pioneer Village (now called the Westfield Heritage Centre) in Rockton.
In 1961, benches and picnic tables were installed. Tennis courts were constructed in 1964.
In the fall of 1969, construction of a partial roof was started to cover the outdoor ice rink. Then on March 27, 1970, the roof blew off in a bad storm. The rink engineer was working in the building when the roofing material blew off and he described it as sounding like "an express train going across the roof". Eventually, the arena was changed to an indoor facility.
Playground equipment was installed in the early 1980's.
In 1986, the rink needed repair because the piping used to circulate coolant through the floors was corroded. The construction work also affected the outdoor pool area because Ministry of Health regulations require access to change rooms and washrooms at swimming pools. The repair work did not make this possible. The work lasted through the summer so the pool was not open for swimming until the following summer.
In the early 1990's, the arena was renovated and the parking lot was expanded.
