Since the mid-1800s, Brookline has had civic minded leaders and citizens who pioneered land use, park and preservation planning and were responsible for laying the historic foundation for the Town's landscape character, civic centers, public park space and recreation programming. Brookline not only invested in land purchases to meet its recreation needs, but was also fortunate to have lands donated by several forward thinking citizens, who anticipated the need for green space for parks, open space, and recreation facilities.

Following the passage of the Playground Act by the legislature in 1893, the Town widely acquired land to develop parks and playgrounds. The Town created its first public playing fields, Cypress Field and Boylston Street Playground in 1871, and its first public pool in 1895. In 1882, the Brookline Country Club was founded as the first in the nation to provide open land for riding and outdoor recreation. Also in the late nineteenth century, the Town founded the Tree Planting Committee, which was the only one in the state until 1934. Brookline purchased its public golf course at Putterham Meadows in 1899.

Established in 1914, the Town Planning Board created a zoning code in 1922 to preserve the open space in neighborhoods. By 1900, Brookline had created a Parks Commission to administer land preserved for recreation. The twentieth century brought the conservation movement to Massachusetts and Brookline, with the Conservation Commission Act passed by the state legislature in 1957. The Town appointed its first Conservation Commission in 1966. A report by the Commission in 1972 addressed the need to increase public open space and the opportunity to expand the existing open space to create a Charles River conservation and recreation system stretching from West Roxbury through Brookline and Newton to Boston's Back Bay.

At the Town level, the Conservation Commission, Park and Recreation Commission, Preservation Commission, Planning Board, Transportation Board, Board of Selectmen, Planning Department, Recreation Department, School Committee, and Department of Public Works coordinate to protect the parks and open space while managing the recreation facilities of the Town. The Parks and Recreation Commission and Recreation Department are in charge of programming the parks, playgrounds, and recreation facilities. The Parks and Open Space Division is responsible for management, maintenance, design, development, policies, education and outreach for the parks, playgrounds, Town grounds, school grounds, cemeteries, street trees, small green open spaces, conservation areas, athletic fields and streetscape beautification. Brookline has many friends groups and the Brookline Greenspace Alliance contributes substantially to the park system through volunteer programs and support for the protection and management of open space in the Town.