The area now known as Merton Park was farmland bought by City wine merchant John Innes in 1864 following the rapid development of Wimbledon to the north.

He took as his model the garden suburbs (particularly Bedford Park in Chiswick) and between 1870 and 1904[3] developed the tree-lined roads of detached and semi-detached houses for which the area is known.

[3] After his death in 1904 he left most of the grounds of the Manor House to be converted into a public park, with the rest becoming the John Innes Horticultural Institution .

Upon the recommendation of Julian Huxley, the council appointed Haldane in March 1927, with the terms: "Mr. Haldane to visit the Institution fortnightly for a day and a night during the Cambridge terms, to put in two months also at Easter and long vacations in two continuous blocks and to be free in the Christmas vacation.

[7] The genetics research of Dorothea De Winton and Haldane required the reliable cultivation of large numbers of primulas; after large losses in the 1933-34 season William Lawrence and John Newell formulated composts that would give consistently good and reliable results.

Five MPWRA have also been Deputy Mayor of Merton: Peter Southgate in 2005/06, Krysia Williams in 2008/09, Karin Forbes in 2009/10, John Sargeant in 2013/14 and Edward Foley 2019/20.

The John Innes Society is a charity that promotes good design and area embellishment in Merton Park.

The approximate boundaries of the Merton Park area can be considered to be The Broadway (A219) to the north, Morden Road (A24) to the east, Martin Way to the south and Cannon Hill Lane to the west.

The church was founded in the 12th century by the Augustinian order of the nearby Merton Priory of which only the Western Gate remains.