The namesake for the park is Hardy Ivy, who is generally considered the first person of European descent to settle in what is now Atlanta.

[2][3] In order to make room for the fountain, a marble statue of Benjamin Harvey Hill was moved from the park to the Georgia State Capitol.

[3] The fountain, designed by sculptor J. Massey Rhind, was later relocated to Grant Park in 1912.

[4] In the late 1990s, the Carnegie Education Pavilion was moved to the park, where it currently still stands.

[4][5] In 2011, the government of Atlanta officially renamed the plaza in the park the Xernona Clayton Plaza in honor of civil rights leader Xernona Clayton.