The land preserved as Stark Park formed part of the Manchester farm associated with John Stark, one of New Hampshire's best-known Revolutionary soldiers. Stark was born in 1728 and gained frontier experience before serving with Rogers' Rangers during the French and Indian War. When conflict began at Lexington and Concord, he raised New Hampshire troops and entered the Continental Army.

Stark's regiment fought at Bunker Hill in 1775, holding the American left near the rail fence. He later served during the invasion of Canada and the campaigns around Trenton and Princeton. Frustrated by promotion decisions, he resigned from the Continental Army, but returned to command New Hampshire militia when British forces threatened from the north in 1777.

At the Battle of Bennington on August 16, 1777, Stark's mixed force defeated detachments sent from General John Burgoyne's army. The victory deprived Burgoyne of supplies and weakened the campaign that ended with the British surrender at Saratoga. Stark continued in military service and became a major general. Long after the war, his 1809 toast—ending “Live free or die”—became New Hampshire's state motto.

Stark died in 1822 and was buried in the family burial ground on his Manchester property. The park preserves that cemetery and a monument to him within a broader recreational landscape. The family home no longer survives, so the graves, topography, and later memorial features carry much of the site's historical meaning. The park reflects both Stark's lifetime connection to the land and subsequent public commemoration.

Today Stark Park combines open space, trails, the family burial area, and interpretive markers. It is not a preserved battlefield, but a home landscape transformed into a civic memorial. Visitors can connect Stark's national military career with the place where he lived and was buried, while also seeing how Manchester incorporated an older farm into the modern city. The park's layered use—private property, burial ground, monument, and public recreation area—shows how historical memory becomes part of everyday urban life. Public use creates both opportunities and obligations. Recreation brings people into contact with the historic landscape, while careful maintenance protects graves and memorials from erosion or casual damage. Interpretation can distinguish Stark's documented service from legends accumulated around a celebrated hero. It can also recognize the soldiers he commanded and the Native and colonial histories that preceded the farm. In that way the park can remain a place of civic pride while presenting a more complete account of the land and the Revolution.