Anyone rabidly fixated on the City of Las Vegas’ Facebook page (and who isn’t?) has likely noticed the recent posting of a few appropriately aged black-and-white photos of a dude ranch, a dance pavilion and a rich oasis flourishing in a mostly undeveloped desert. That, all of it, would be Lorenzi Park.

The nearly 90-year-old recreational refuge near Washington and Rancho has a storied past, beginning with the French immigrant who bought the property in 1912, opened it as a park in 1926 and converted it to the Twin Lakes Lodge in 1940 (accommodating divorce seekers), before it landed in the hands of the city in the 1960s. All of this history will be shared on-site starting August 17, when the 60-acre park is reopened in its entirety after a $30 million renovation.

Featured among the children’s play areas, picnic structures, new tennis and basketball courts and a rose garden are markers telling its tale.