This week I attended the State of The Park breakfast hosted by the Memorial Park Conservancy. Shellye Arnold, President and CEO of the conservancy, gave the main speech in which she shared some detail into the incredible amount of planning that has gone into all the recent expansion, renovation, and improvement. I found the following points to be particularly interesting:
- Over 55,000 cars pass through the park daily through the new tunnels
- The concrete steps making up the scramble are made from recycled old pieces of Memorial drive
- A very specific mixture of soil was used to cover the tunnels and make the landbridge. Without special care on this detail, the soil could have been too heavy and crushed the tunnels.
- Some of the few giant alligator snapping turtles left in the bayou area reside in the Memorial Park lake, and one is endearingly named Logan.
Additionally, I did some reading on the history and thought this piece to be noteworthy. As a native Houstonian, I’m so so very glad a group of people had such forethought into the future of what is now the third largest city in America.
“Long before the Memorial Park Conservancy came into existence, the Park benefitted from the leadership and interest of passionate conservationists, beginning with Miss Ima Hogg, sister to the Park’s benefactors, Will and Mike Hogg. The original deed of sale to the city specified that the land remain “for park purposes only,” stipulating that should this not be respected, the land would return to Hogg family ownership or that of their heirs. The Park was to be named to honor the soldiers who fought in World War I and trained in Camp Logan, today known as Memorial Park; Camp Logan was one of a handful of training camps established to train and convert members of the National Guard to become U.S. military service members.
For fifty years, Miss Ima served as guardian of the Park, saving it from numerous potential encroachments, including proposals for oil wells and construction of Houston’s once-famous Astrodome stadium. She faced down over a hundred such proposals, some with prominent local backers, enabling Memorial Park to remain a haven for Houstonians.”
Memorial Park and the surrounding neighborhoods Camp Logan, Crestwood, Glencove, and Rice Military have become one of my specialty areas over the last five years. If you love Memorial Park as much as I do and want to be closer, my team and I are experts. Give us a call at 832-465-6458 or reply to this email.
