The park is named for William Clark Sterling (1849–1924), a businessman and outdoorsman who bought marshland at the mouth of the Detroit River and was one of the first to see the value in protecting swamps for future generations and the good of the environment. The state acquired the park's first 134 acres—a narrow strip lying between Lake Erie and a lagoon—in 1935. A portion of the land had been donated by the city of Monroe and the Monroe Piers Land Company, which had once been owned by Sterling. The park was dedicated the following year.