Parks

Photographs documenting Adams Hemphill Park from the Austin Files collection

Photographs documenting Bartholomew Park from the Austin Files collection. This 57-acre park includes disc golf, a creek, playground, picnic areas, and more. Bartholomew has a long history of neighborhood involvement. Volunteers have given money and sweat to plant trees, build play equipment, paint buildings, and more.

Photographs documenting Brentwood Park from the Austin Files collection

Photographs documenting City Park from the Austin Files collection. Emma Long Metropolitan Park is a large municipal park in northwest Austin, Texas (United States). The park is on the shores of Lake Austin and was originally called City Park. The park features open space, camp sites, boat ramps, picnic table sites and a designating swimming area. In 1939, Civilian Conservation Corps Company 1805 that had just finished Bastrop State Park moved to the site to begin developing the tract of land into a municipal park. The company's primary work included seeding and sodding grass, planting trees, and protecting the bank of the lake from erosion. They built docks, piers and a boathouse. They also built a wooden bath house and concession stand. These wooden structures burned and were replaced with stone structures that are still in use. In 1984, the Austin City Council renamed the park after Emma Long, a former Austin City Council Member. Long was the first woman to serve on the council of a large city in Texas. She also served as the first woman Mayor Pro Tem from 1967-1969.

Photographs documenting Civitan Park from the Austin Files collection

Photographs documenting Deep Eddy from the Austin Files collection. Deep Eddy Municipal Pool has a long history. As the oldest swimming pool in the state of Texas, some version of Deep Eddy has been around since the 1920s, when it was nothing more than a natural Eddy formed by a large boulder on that section of the Colorado River. In the 20s, A.J. Eilers purchased the land around Deep Eddy and built a resort on the site, with the natural pool as the main attraction. He renamed it Deep Eddy Bathing Beach and added several attractions, including a wacky 50ft tall horse diving board. Over the years, Deep Eddy has changed quite a bit. In the 30s the City of Austin bought the pool for a cool $10k. A few months after the purchase a massive flood destroyed the existing bathhouse. During the Depression era, the City of Austin and Works Progress Administration teamed up to rebuild the bathhouse and it still stands today, as a repurposed facility for other city projects. Today, The Deep Eddy Pool is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as a historic landmark. The pool itself is fed by a man-made well so the water temperatures remain cool all year long, at around 70 degrees, just a bit warmer than the nearby Barton Springs.

Photographs documenting Eastwoods Park from the Austin Files collection. Eastwoods Park is a shady 9 acre neighborhood park that sits along Waller Creek, just north of the University of Texas. Prior to development as a city park in 1930, the site was referred to as Wheeler’s Grove. The site is historically significant for hosting one of the earliest Juneteenth celebrations in Austin in the latter part of the 19th century. Juneteenth is a holiday that commemorates June 19, 1865, the day that news of President Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 Emancipation Proclamation reached Texas. Juneteenth later became a time to celebrate African-American cultural traditions and the annual celebrations continue today in other parks in Austin. In March, 1929, nine acres of land on Waller Creek was purchased for $20,000 for the development of a park and playground. The playground was open by August, 1930, and a pool was opened by 1933. Eastwoods Park is used as a neighborhood park by the Eastwoods neighborhood and students from the University of Texas. The park was the original location of Austin's Eeyore's Birthday Party, an eclectic and uniquely Austin festival started by students at the University of Texas. The event is now held in Pease Park. Eastwoods Park was designed by the landscape architect, Jac Gubbles. Gubbles is well known as the chief landscape architect for the Texas Highway Department (THD) Landscape Division. It was Gubbles who is credited with the early beautification initiatives along Texas highways. Prior to his work with the THD, Gubbles restored the San Jacinto Battlefield to its original 1830s appearance and worked extensively on the Austin as a part of a $750,000 bond program to purchase land for boulevards and parks. Gubbles oversaw the acquisition of land along Shoal Creek, Plum Creek, and Zilker Park.

Photographs documenting Garrison Park from the Austin Files collection

Photographs documenting Gillis Park from the Austin Files collection

Photographs documenting Givens Park from the Austin Files collection

Photographs documenting Hidden Valley Park from the Austin Files collection

Photographs documenting Lamar Park from the Austin Files collection

Media documenting Mayfield Park from the Austin Files collection. The Mayfield–Gutsch Estate, now named Mayfield Park, is a historic cottage, gardens and nature preserve in west Austin, Texas on a bluff overlooking Lake Austin. Originally built in the 1870s, the cottage was purchased by former Texas Secretary of State Allison Mayfield in 1909.

Images documenting McKinney Falls State Park from the Austin Files collection. Artifacts found in the park illustrate a long and rich Native American history. Exactly which early groups were here is unknown. Some may have become part of modern tribes in Texas, such as the Tonkawa. From the late 1600s to the early 1800s, a portion of El Ca­mi­no Real de los Tejas ran through what is now the park. Missionaries, friars, government of­fi­cials, soldiers and traders travelled along various routes from Spanish-controlled Mexico in­to Texas and Louisiana during this period. Reasons for expeditions varied. Mis­sion­aries and friars hoped to convert Native Americans to Christianity. Govern­ment of­fi­cials and soldiers wanted to defend Spain’s interests in the New World from the French. Traders used the routes for commerce. His­tori­cal evidence suggests some of these expeditions crossed Onion Creek just above the Lower Falls. By 1850, Thomas McKinney was living on this property along Onion Creek, near a crossing of the El Camino Real. Kentucky-born McKinney had settled in San Felipe de Austin in 1830 as one of Stephen F. Austin’s first 300 colonists before moving to Galveston. McKinney and Samuel May Williams entered into a business partnership in 1834 that was to have profound effects on Texas history. During the Texas Revolution, the McKinney-Williams firm was the primary source of men, money, and supplies for the Texas army. It financed over $150,000 - more than 10 percent of the total cost of the revolution. The McKinney-Williams ships formed a part of the quickly-assembled Texas Navy. Voters elected McKinney as a senator to the first legislature in Austin. During this time, he made plans for his new home on Onion Creek. Between 1850 and 1852, McKinney built a two-story limestone home, gristmill and dam on his ranch. Developed by McKinney’s enslaved persons, his ranch continued to grow in number of structures, livestock and other assets. McKinney owned and bred a number of thoroughbred racehorses, and even had his own racetrack somewhere on the ranch. McKinney died on Oct. 2, 1873, at his home. He was deeply in debt. His peers remembered him fondly and gave him an elabo­rate funeral service on the steps of the Capitol building. He is buried in Oakwood Cemetery in Austin. Look for the ruins of McKinney's homestead, his horse trainer's cabin, gristmill and stone walls in the park. After McKinney’s death, his widow, Anna, sold the property to James Woods Smith. Members of the Smith family owned and farmed the land for several generations before donating it to the State of Texas in 1973. The park officially opened to the public in 1976.

Photographs documenting Palm Park from the Austin Files collection. A historically important park with strong connections to East Austin communities, Palm Park will serve as a major entrance to the creek trail and central space for community activities. This small historic park is part of the Palm square area and is officially named Sir Swante Palm Park. Swante Palm, was born Swante Jaensson on January 31, 1815, in Sweden. He followed his nephew (only one year younger) to New Braunfels, Texas, and later changed his name to Swante Palm. He was an industrious citizen and served as the Swedish consulate from his home on Ninth Street (which, at the time, was also home to boarder O. Henry), helping immigrants acclimate to their new home.

Photographs documenting Reed Park from the Austin Files collection. Reed Park is a quiet neighborhood park, and the trail runs from the pool area along a creek (dry today) to Scenic Drive near Lake Austin.

Photographs documenting Ricky Guerrero Park from the Austin Files collection

Media documenting Rosewood Park from the Austin Files collection. Rosewood Park is located along Boggy Creek in the center of East Austin. The land was originally a homestead settled by local storeowner Rudolph Bertram in the 1870s. The city purchased the property in 1928 for $13,500, opening Austin’s first public park for African Americans there two years later. Since its inception, Rosewood Park has served an indispensable role in the lives of the local community and continues to provide the neighborhood with a grand public space for recreation. The city established the “Rosewood Avenue Park and Playground for the Colored” in East Austin in accordance with the 1928 Kock and Fowler City Plan. Conversely, it barred public services, including parks, to African Americans living other parts of Austin.

Images documenting Roy G. Guerrero Colorado River Metropolitan Park from the Austin Files collection. The park is comprised of almost 400 acres of green space, including open lawns, wooded trails, a playground, a disc-golf course, sports fields and access to the Colorado River.

Photographs documenting Shipe Park from the Austin Files collection. Shipe Park got its name from Monroe Martin Shipe, developer of the Hyde Park neighborhood. Hyde Park was marketed under the direction of Monroe Martin Shipe as a majority white, affluent suburb featuring large, majestic residences, separate from the racially integrated neighborhoods of the city. This neighborhood park is a two-acre area that sits on the northern edge of Hyde Park in north Austin.

Photographs documenting Big Stacy and Little Stacy neighborhood parks from the Austin Files collection

Photographs documenting West Austin Park from the Austin Files collection