The first work on Commons Park began in 1957

                                          Grading on Commons Park in the 1960s.
                                                             -Heritage Museum of Layton photograph.

COMMONS Park is the jewel of Layton City's parks system. Its development has been a steady process over the decades.
Commons Park is located where the former Verdeland Park, a government housing project during World War II.
The first reported work on the former housing land toward a recreational park was in the summer of 1957. According to the Weekly Reflex newspaper  if Aug. 15, 1957, the Layton Junior Chamber of Commerce cleaned the creek bed in the area out, removed dead trees and graded some of the land with the help of a bulldozer. They were now planning to add some picnic facilities to the area.  
-ONE of the more controversial aspects to the development of Commons Park happened in 1971. According to the Ogden Standard-Examiner of June 18, 1971, "Layton to get 10 acres by condemnation" was the headline.  Layton Mayor Lewis G. Shields authorized the condemnation papers on two pieces of property, adjacent to the current Commons Park property.
The newspaper report sounds like Layton needed the 10 acres for easement access.
"Councilmen refused comment as to the owners of the property they ordered condemned," the newspaper report concluded.