The land now comprising the Tivoli Preserve was originally owned by the Van Rensselaer family as part of the patroonship of Rensselaerswyck.

[2][3] In 1850 the city of Albany purchased the land in order to dam the Patroon Creek to form a reservoir for the public water system.

[4] Plans to extend Manning Boulevard from its then current terminus at the intersection of Clinton Avenue and Central Avenue through the waterworks property were proposed in the 1870s and though grading and preliminary work proceeded, the street laid out was never a grand boulevard as proposed and the portion inside the park was never completed.

[7] In 1957 the city turned the waterworks property into the Tivoli Lakes Nature Study Sanctuary, though by 1974 the area was in such neglect again that the Albany Times Union published a faux obituary describing the park's "death".

[8] As part of a 1998 settlement closing the waste incinerator in the Sheridan Hollow neighborhood, the state funded a clean-up and upgrade of the preserve into an educational center in conjunction with the neighboring Philip Livingston Middle School.