The park was built around 1998 in the mainly Hispanic neighborhood southeast of Downtown Hillsboro.[1] During a gang fight in 2001 at the park, one person was hospitalized with a stab wound,[2] and around 2005 a picnic table was stolen from the park.[1] The park was added by the Hillsboro School District to the list of parks used for the district's free summer lunch program in 2006.[3]
Walnut Street Park was the scene of a shooting in March 2008,[4] and an arrest for a stabbing in July 2011.[5] The shooting was considered gang related,[4] while the stabbing was a domestic disturbance at a nearby home after which the suspect hid in the park.[5] Sexual Minorities of Washington County adopted the park in 2009 as part of the city's Adopt a Park program.[6]
In 2012, a federal grant paid for improvements at the park, including a splash pad.[7] Other improvements paid for by the $175,000 grants included new park benches and grass.[7] The park received new sod in October 2012 as part of the same renovations.[8] The used sod came from a former softball field at the Gordon Faber Recreation Complex that was removed to make way for the new Hillsboro baseball stadium.[8] A man was arrested in March 2014 for firing gunshots in the park.[9][10]
