The park once had a pavilion that contained a roller skating rink, and was the center of civic activities before the opening of the Washington County Fairgrounds.

Named for businessman John W. Shute, the park at one time included land on the east side of the highway that consisted mainly of a baseball field.

[2] The city passed a levy to finance the purchase of its first park at 1.8 mills per assessed valuation.

[2] The land had previously been the site of a brickyard, whose brick had been used in the construction of several buildings in downtown Hillsboro.

[7] In 1962, the county's historical society looked at the park as a possible home for their museum, which was not built at that time or at that location.

[11] Hillsboro's city council elected to re-zone the parcel as commercial in order to maximize the value of the land.

[13] In 1987, the 25-foot (7.6 m) Peter Wolf Toth statue, Chief Kno-Tah, was added along the eastern side of the park.

In 2006, the city celebrated the 100th anniversary of the park that included people in period dress and a performance by the Oregon Symphonic Band.

[18] From 1987[19] to 2017,[20] it also hosted the Chief Kno-Tah wood sculpture of a Native American head carved by Peter Wolf Toth as part of his Trail of the Whispering Giants.