Green Glen Park was first opened in 1924 by Antoni Frys after he purchased 35 acres of bottomland from Frank O'Brian. Originally called Marskie Oko Park, it was located on the west side of Ryan Road by the Clinton River, midway between Hamlin Road and 22 Mile Road.

After the Frys cleaned up the grounds, added outhouses, picnic tables for picnickers, a baseball diamond and cleared an area for parking, it catered mainly to Polish groups and families. In 1927, the Polish Falcons Service Club #31 purchased Green Glen. While they sold the park back to the Frys in 1933, the Polish Falcons Service Club #31 left a lasting mark renaming it the Zielony Gaj Park, Green Glen Park in Polish. Even after the Frys reacquired the park, the name stuck, probably because the Polish groups, which frequented it for the last six years, recognized it by that name.

After Antoni Frys reacquired the park in 1933, his son Bill Frys joined him in running it in 1936, and in 1937 Bill's brother Edward joined the venture. From 1933 - 1953, the family added a concession stand where they sold hamburgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and soft drinks for five cents each. They later added an indoor bar, a beer garden after Prohibition ended, an octagonal dance pavilion to accommodate up to 350 dancers, a three-room house for the park's caretakers and an eight-lane bowling alley.  During the park's bowling height, it had six leagues, including a Lutheran Men's League, a ladies league and a St. Lawrence Knights of Columbus League. The park built a ski jump in 1937, but they tore down the jump a year later after a child died trying to go down the slope on a toboggan. In 1940, Antoni and Bill Frys added four toboggan runs with lumber from the old Belvedere Park pavilion.

During its heyday, admission to the park was 25 cents per person, and groups could rent the whole park for picnics for $150 - $300, depending on the number of people expected by the group. Polka was the most popular music performed at the dance pavilion, and "America's Polka King" Frankie Yankovic performed there with his band while he was still growing in popularity.

Father and son Leo and Ed Reband bought the park in 1953. They operated it with their wives Clara Reband and Martha McLaughlin until the decline of the Clinton River parks with the advent of interstate highways and state parks, closing the park in the 1970s. Today much of Holland Ponds Park occupies the former site of Green Glen Park. If you would like to learn more about historic Shelby Township river parks, read Wally Doebler's "Summer Along the Clinton: A History of the Clinton River Parks."