It is named after Alderman J. R. Grant, J.P, chairman of the Corporation Parks and Gardens Committee.

[1][2] The Necropolis opened in 1825, with buildings by John Foster Jr, it closed in 1898 and was transferred to the council who reopened it as a park in 1914.

On 31 August 1898, Liverpool's Necropolis Cemetery (Low Hill/Everton), was closed, due to an edict of the City Council, citing the unsanitary conditions spreading to surrounding neighbourhoods, plus the fact that the Cemetery was nearing its full capacity of 80,000 burials.

The old headstones were 'dropped' over the graves, and subsequently landscaped in the early 1910s, to make Grant Gardens a public park, which was opened by City Alderman J.R.Grant in 1914.

Headstones from 'active' private plots at the Necropolis were relocated to Everton Cemetery.