The Oakland Garden Amusement Park was established in the early 1880s, showing up on the 1884 atlas. Although Franklin Park opened in 1883, not all the land for the park had been acquired by that time, and the park was not completed for several years. Therefore the success of Oakland Garden Amusement Park must have resulted partly from its proximity to Franklin Park, offering additional attractions for visitors to Franklin Park.
Evening performances included mini-theatricals, operettas and concerts, while circuses and sideshows amused local children during the day. So popular were the attractions of Oakland Garden that horse-drawn cars were chartered from the Highland Railway.
Source: Anthony Mitchell Sammarco. Dorchester in the Images of America series. (1995)