In 1919 the Rochester YWCA purchased the Shale Glen property on the north side of Point Rochester on Canandaigua Lake. Camp Onanda, named by Mary Moulthrop as an approximation of the Native American word for “pine or fir tree,” was opened in 1920, serving young working women.

In its final years before being purchased by the Town of Canandaigua, the site was purchased by Camp Good Days and Special Times.

The town finalized purchase on the property for a public park in 1989, with $2 million from an Environmental Bond Act, and $600,000 raised locally.