John Sharrah commemorative plaque approved for Anderson River Park development

Photo by George L. Winship, Editor

John Sharrah

Anderson City Council unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday, July 7, that will allow Anderson Rotary Club to install a commemorative plaque in Anderson River Park honoring John Sharrah for helping to establish the property as public park land.

Rotary members Doug Hirsch and Bill Gibson met in late June with city staff members to select an appropriate site for a large boulder – between the gazebo and the Scout Hall and facing Barbecue Area 1 and the Sacramento River – and concrete foundation approximately eight feet in diameter.

The boulder will be “chiseled flat on one side to accept a bronze plaque etched with a picture of John Sharrah and the appropriate commemorative language,” Hirsch told council members.

The size of the plaque has yet to be determined, he said.

Sharrah, who recently celebrated his 78th birthday, was Anderson’s first Director of Public Works, assuming that position in 1965. The city was incorporated Jan. 16, 1956.

Under the leadership of then-Mayor Virgil Covington, Sharrah was directed to place an emphasis on developing recreation areas and open public space.

Three years later, in 1968, Sharrah and the Anderson City Council completed negotiations to purchase major portions of the 500-acre Dodson Ranch that borders the Sacramento River using a combination of federal, state and local funds, according to a brief history that Hirsch presented to the council.

A long-time member and a past-president of Anderson Rotary Club, Sharrah and the club’s membership over the years built the park’s first barbecue pit area, the Scout Hall, a gazebo covered dining area and basketball court.

Today, the 440-acre park's facilities also includes manicured soccer fields, lighted tennis courts, softball fields, a disc golf course, horseshoe and bocce-ball pits, fishing ponds, boat ramps, wildlife viewing areas, a handicap-accessible fishing pier, a playground, walking and equestrian trails, a Veteran's memorial garden, and an amphitheatre where live music is presented free for 10 Wednesday evenings throughout the summer.

The park is also home to the Shasta Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, which shelters and rehabilitates wounded fauna from the area, according to Project for Public Spaces, a New York City organization that maintains a Web site that includes a special section it calls “Great Public Spaces.”

“We provide a free summer program for youth 5-12 years of age at the park. It is a wonderful opportunity to introduce the youth to nature and the outdoors, they in turn bring their families out to share,” states Pam Lewis, Recreation Supervisor for the city’s Parks and Recreation Department since 1997.

Sharrah was a founding partner in Sharrah Dunlap Sawyer, Inc., a Redding-based structural design, civil engineering and planning firm that has been instrumental in planning the Anderson Marketplace shopping center that includes Shasta County’s first Wal-Mart SuperCenter.