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Memorial Park
6501 Memorial Drive
Acquired by City of Houston Parks & Recreation Dept.: 1925
Size: 1,431.35 acres
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Memorial Park
Buffalo Bayou Park
Spotts Park
Sabine-to-Bagby Park
Sam Houston Park
Sesquicentennial Park
Allen’s Landing
James Bute Park
Guadalupe Plaza Park
Tony Marron Park
Hidalgo Park
Terry Hershey Park |
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Buffalo Bayou Park
18-3600 Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive
Size: 124.05 acres
With downtown’s skyline as its back drop, Houston’s premier
greenbelt winds from Shepherd Drive on the west to Bagby Street on the
East End. Eleanor Tinsley Park, located within this greenway (Taft-Sabine),
is the site of major Houston festivals and events, including the city’s
Fourth of July Fireworks.
Special Features:
- Hike and bike trails
- Exercise stations
- Jim Mozola Memorial Disc Golf Course (north bank immediately west
of Sabine Street)
- “Dog Park” (site where dog lovers informally meet ) (2700
block of Allen Parkway at Studewood)
- Boat Launch (Eleanor Tinsley Park)
- Children’s Playground (Eleanor Tinsley Park)
- Buffalo Bayou Artpark (temporary public art work is displayed) (north
bank immediately west and east of Sabine Street)
- Henry Moore Sculpture (south bank east of Taft Street)
- Police Memorial (north bank off Memorial Drive between
- Fonde Recreation Center (110 Sabine Street)
- Cemeteries: Beth Yeshurun (3600 Allen Parkway) and Glenwood Cemetery
(2525 Washington Avenue)
- Amenities: Benches, Trash Receptacles and Drinking Fountains
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Sabine-to-Bagby Promenade
150 Sabine Street
Opened: 2006
Size: 23 acres
The new $15 million Sabine to Bagby Waterfront Park includes hike and bike trails on both sides of the bayou linking the Allen Parkway/Memorial Drive trails in the west with Sesquicentennial Park in downtown. The new 23-acre park's features include 12 new street-to-bayou access points, dramatic lighting, native landscaping, canoe launches, civic artwork and picnic lawns.
read more here.
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Spotts Park
401 South Heights Boulevard
Acquired by City of Houston Parks & Recreation Dept.: 1980
Size: 16.24
Special Features
- Trail/Walkway
- Basketball Court
- Volleyball Court
- Children’s Playground
- Picnic Area
- Amenities: Benches, Trash Receptacles, Drinking Fountains
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Sam Houston Park
1000 Bagby
Acquired by City of Houston Parks & Recreation Dept.: 1899
Size: 19.70 acres
In 1899, Sam Houston Park became Houston’s first public park. Historic
postcards reveal “City Park” as it was then known, as having
a children’s zoo, wading pool and picturesque wooden bridges. Today,
as home to the Houston Heritage Society, the park is devoted to preserving
Houston’s history by restoring and interpreting early historic
structures.
Special Features:
- Small Pond with Fountain
- Wetland Garden
- Gazebo
- Trail/Walkways
- Neuhaus Garden
- Heritage Society Homes: The Old Place (1823), Pilot House (1868),
San Felipe Cottage (1868), Staiti House (1905), Yates House (1870),
Kellum Noble House (1847), St. John Church (1891), Nichols-Rice-Cherry
House (1850)
- Heritage Society Museum,
Gift Shop and Offices
- Houston Armillary Sphere Sculpture
- USS Houston Memorial Sculpture
- Amenities: Benches, Trash Receptacles and Drinking Fountains
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Sesquicentennial Park
Bagby
Acquired by City of Houston Convention & Entertainment Facilities
Dept.: 1986
Size: 22.5 acres
The result of a nationwide design competition, Buffalo Bayou Sesquicentennial
Park has become an urban oasis in the heart of Houston’s downtown
Theater District. Serving as the park’s gateway, the two-acre Phase
I site, completed in 1989, includes a cascading fountain, gatehouse,
and octagonal pavilion adjacent to the Wortham Theater. The 8.2-acre
Phase II section of the park, which opened in the 1998, features the
following elements:
- The Common
A gently sloping 1.25-acre lawn flanked by a walkway and stately trees.
Be sure to check out artist Dean Ruck’s historic photographic
display, located in the balustrade railings overlooking Buffalo Bayou.
- Allen H. Carruth Promenade
Shaded by large cypress trees and enclosed by an historic balustrade
overlook wall, the 24-foot walkway features five of the massive park
pillars, created by architects TeamHou and artist Mel Chin.
- Preston Avenue Bridge
Designed as a pedestrian link to the bayou’s east and west banks,
the Preston Avenue Bridge is lined with wide sidewalks, and replicas
of the historic lighting that once adorned this early bayou crossing.
Two park pillars can be found on each side of the bridge.
- The Garden Club of Houston Garden
Located on the western bank of Sesquicentennial Park, you will find
this natural sweeping grassy slope the perfect spot for an afternoon
picnic. The site, which has been designated a Texas Wildscape by the
Texas Parks & Wildlife Department, contains extensive native plantings,
unique stonework, and natural water pools.
- George Bush Monument
The George Bush Monument, a tribute to the 41st American president,
was unveiled to the public in December of 2004, as a new addition
to Sesquicentennial Park. A public green space, the park is open
to the public 365 days a year. There is no entry fee.
The exhibit
features an eight-foot, 650-pound bronze sculpture of the former
president and a semicircular wall consisting of four bas-reliefs
that depict President Bush in various stages of his life. The park
is well-lighted and includes benches and paved footpaths.
Visitors
approaching on foot will find the stately green space in Sesquicentennial
Park, on the west bank of Buffalo Bayou across from Wortham Center
in downtown Houston. Motorists can park at metered spaces near the
park entry at Bagby and Franklin streets.
- The Josephine B. and Anthony Charles Muller Overlook
Park your bike at this overlook site, situated on a bayou curve near
the Prairie and Bagby Street Bridge. It is the perfect spot to take
in the spectacular view of Houston’s downtown buildings.
- Seven Wonders
Rising dramatically above Buffalo Bayou’s Sesquicentennial Park
are the seven 70-ft-tall pillars “Seven Wonders.”. Flanking
the park’s Promenade and Preston Avenue Bridge, the columns highlight
Houston’s history through the themes of agriculture, energy,
manufacturing, medicine, philanthropy, technology and transportation.
Each column is constructed of 150 individual children’s drawings,
etched in stainless steel plate.
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Allen’s Landing
1001 Commerce Street
Acquired by City of Houston Parks & Recreation Department: 1966
Size: 1.76 acres
Often described as “Houston’s heart” and our “Plymouth
Rock,” Allen’s Landing is an area that truly defines our city.
It was here in 1836 that August C. and John K. Allen stepped ashore
and claimed Houston as their own. The confluence of Buffalo and White
Oak bayous also became Houston’s first port and a thriving commercial
hub.
After years of deterioration and numerous planning efforts, Allen’s
Landing is undergoing major revitalization and rejuvenation.
Phase I Redevelopment (Completed 2001)
Cost: $2.8 million
Funders: City of Houston Parks & Recreation Department, Harris
County Flood Control District and Texas Parks & Wildlife Department
Special Features:
- Concrete paved wharf designed to replicate the original Port
- Promenade
- Terrace Overlooking Bayou
- Trail/Walkway
- Entry plaza at Intersection of Commerce and Main
- Terraced Grass Lawn
- Text-based Public Artwork
- Amenities: Benches, Trash Receptacles, Drinking Fountain, Bike Rack,
Decorative Lighting
Phase II
Cost: $1.8 million
Funders: Texas Department of Transportation and Buffalo Bayou Partnership
Improvements will be made west and east of the existing park.
In addition to the Allen’s Landing Phase I and II initiatives,
the Cotswold Project, a $ million downtown streetscape enhancement project,
will be constructing pedestrian connections from Commerce Street to
the bayou. Four major entryways will include: stairs, ramps, landscaping,
signage and public art.
Allen’s Landing Master Plan
To coordinate more than $25 million of existing and $6 million of proposed
projects along Buffalo Bayou in north downtown, the Buffalo Bayou Partnership
created the Greater Allen’s Landing Master Plan, in cooperation
with major governmental and community stakeholders. (SEE ALLEN’S
LANDING PLAN ON WEBSITE).
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James Bute Park
McKee Street
Acquired by Harris County Precinct Two:
Size:
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Guadalupe Plaza Park
2311 Runnels
Acquired by City of Houston Parks & Recreation Dept.: 1986
Size: 6.46 acres
Mariachi and salsa music, ballet folklorico, and seasonal festival are
among the sites and sounds that fill Hispanic-styled Guadalupe Plaza
Park in the East End’s Second Ward neighborhood.
Special Features:
- Performing Arts Area Centered Around a Colonial Zocalo
- Trail/Walkway
- Fountain
- Boat Landing
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Tony Marron Park
808 North York
Acquired by City of Houston Parks & Recreation Department: 1987
Size: 19.07 acres
The Park People, a non-profit citizen’s organization that promotes
parks and open space, has successfully completed development of this underutilized
green space in Houston’s East End Second Ward neighborhood.
Special Features of the Park:
- Trail/Walkway
- Playing Fields for Soccer and Baseball
- Children’s Playground
- Landscaping
- Amenities: Benches, Picnic Tables, Trash Receptacles, Drinking Fountains
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Hidalgo Park
7000 Avenue Q
Acquired by City of Houston Parks & Recreation Department: 1927
Size: 11.60 acres
Since its founding in 1927 at the Turning Basin, Hidalgo Park has been
at the center of the East End’s cultural and civic life. Neighborhood
residents raised money to purchase the park’s orginal land and
sponsored the creation of its unqiure quiosco (gazebo).
Special Features:
- Quiosco (Gazebo with concrete columns and railings to look like
tree trunks)
- Creative wooden playground designed and partially funded by neighborhood
children
- Baseball Field
- Amenities: Benches, Trash Receptacles, Decorative Lighting
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