Himmel Park spreads 24.3 acres of central Tucson in front of you, from Tucson Boulevard east to Treat Avenue. Spread across three blocks east to west and two-and-a-half blocks north to south, it reaches from Tucson Boulevard on the west to Treat Avenue on the east, and from 1st Street on the north to a half-block north of 3rd Street on the south. Here you can see the Himmel Park Branch Library in the park's northeast corner, the grass amphitheater, two playgrounds, a swimming pool built in 1936 by the Works Progress Administration, eight lighted tennis courts, and a multipurpose grass field area large enough for four full-size soccer fields.
This land was sold to the City of Tucson in 1935 by Alvina Himmel Edmonson for $3,500, with the agreement the park be named after her parents; in 1944 the park roughly doubled when three additional city blocks were purchased. From 1962 until 2000 the Southern Pacific 1673 steam locomotive stood south of the WPA pool and east of the main playground before it was moved. Notice the library, the WPA pool built in 1936, the playgrounds, and the open green fields spread across this park.