Kowhai Park flanking the eastern bank of the Wanganui River was so named following the planting of a Kowhai tree by Lord Liverpool at the opening ceremony in 1917. Through the work of James McGregor the park became home to an enviable range of trees.
James McGregor was a local whose farm was on the road to Fordell. He was responsible for the laying out and planting of the Reserve. He secured trees from all over New Zealand and personally planted the majority of the trees. During the severe winter of 1928, Mr. McGregor caught a chill while tending the trees in the Park and died shorty after.
His passion and devotion have left a large legacy with beautification work continuing. Some of his descendants still live within the District and at Aird, the original homestead.
His efforts were later recognised by the renaming of the park as the James McGregor Memorial Park just seven years before the land was vested in the Wanganui City Council in 1942. The park’s southern end is still dominated by the plantings of James McGregor.
James died in February 1940 with this tree being planted after that time (c1954).

This tree was the fourth largest girth of any dawn redwood recorded in NZ and was ranked the 4th equal (Queens Garden's, Nelson) overall. 'A New Zealand Survey of Metasequoia glyptostroboides' Cadwallader, B.G. 2009.