In 2018, the City of Glens Falls purchased for back taxes the property formerly known as the Glens Falls Tennis and Swim Club, on East Sanford Street, in the Town of Queensbury, on the eastern border of Glens Falls.  The majority of the property falls within a large area of delineated wetlands which extend east, north and south beyond the current approximately 6.5-acre footprint. The objective in acquiring the property was to create a publicly accessible natural asset that would complement the city's existing portfolio of parks and trails.

Following the acquisition of the property, several ad hoc committees consisting of community members, and city, town and county officials met to discuss possible uses for the site and received favorable feedback from neighboring landowners who expressed interest in contributing their property, either through fee simple or easement.  In the winter of 2024, a New York State not-for-profit corporation named the Crockwell Partnership, Inc., was formed to provide a more formal structure around the planning and community engagement regarding the former Tennis and Swim Club property. The Partnership has been granted 501(c)3 status by the IRS. It is expected that the Partnership will ultimately manage the Preserve, through an agreement with the City.

The City of Glens Falls recently agreed to acquire the small body of water on East Sanford Street known as Crockwell Pond with the expectation that it will be made a part of the Crockwell Preserve. Crockwell Pond was gifted for public use in 1980 by Margaret Crockwell to Warren and Washington Counties as Trustees for SUNY Adirondack to be maintained “forever wild.” The pond was used by the college for biological field work, and was periodically dredged and maintained, but it has not been used for that purpose for many years.

Another important objective is to acknowledge the historical and cultural significance of Spencer Douglass and Margaret Braman Crockwell, who donated the land for the Glens Falls Tennis and Swim Club in the mid-1960s; as already mentioned, Margaret donated Crockwell Pond for public use. Douglass Crockwell (1904-1968) was a prolific commercial artist and illustrator, a fine artist, an experimental filmmaker and a muralist. Similar to his better-known contemporary Norman Rockwell, Crockwell is perhaps best known for his cover illustrations for The Saturday Evening Post. He operated out of his home and studio at 245 East Sanford Street and was a community leader in Glens Falls. The plan includes evaluating whether the Crockwell home and studio, and any associated parcels, are eligible for listing on the State or National Register of Historic Places either individually or within a district, and what the impact of such designation would be on the larger project itself.