The park was the estate of
Henry Bolckow one of Middlesbrough's
ironmasters and the borough's first mayor. Bolckow landscaped the estate and in 1858 built Marton Hall in the estate. To indicate the site of the cottage where
Captain James Cook was born he had erected a pink granite vase still present today. The estate was eventually bought by Councillor Thomas Dormand Stewart, in 1924, for the people of Middlesbrough. Stewart intended it to be "a public possession, open and accessible to all the people, at all times". Stewart's Park was officially opened to the public on 23 May 1928.
Post war After the Second World War, Marton Hall stood empty for many years in a state of disrepair. In January 1959, the Borough engineer, A Kenyon, stated in a report, "The Hall....was of no wide historic or architectural value" and that renovations would cost in the region of £25,000. The council decided to demolish the building. Work to demolish the Hall started in May 1960, but on 6 June a fire broke out and tore through the building. The ten fire appliances sent to tackle fire were hampered by the lack of water supply in the area, and the building was destroyed. The hall's conservatory continued to be open to the public for a number of years, but was eventually demolished in the mid-1990s. A stone loggia next to the
museum is all that is left of the hall. The remaining Victorian estate buildings were later utilised as park depot buildings and council offices. The
Captain Cook Birthplace Museum (opened October 1978) is also within the park, which was built over the eastern part of Marton. In September 1998, an archaeological survey showed evidence of this part of Marton. In 2003, the eastern part of Marton village (misleadingly called "East Marton" as if it was a separate village) was the subject of
Channel 4's archaeological television programme
Time Team, presented by
Tony Robinson. == Today ==