Reader Rock Gardens was named after William Roland Reader who had a love of gardening. William Reader was Calgary's parks superintendent from 1913 to 1942 and helped transform Calgary from a treeless prairie town into a city of tree-lined boulevards and diversified public parks. He also developed the barren area surrounding his official residence (on the north side of Union Cemetery) into a showcase garden with over four thousand varieties of plants, and opened it to the public in 1923. After his death in 1943, his showcase garden became Reader Rock Gardens.