Memorial Park, a municipal park in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, is one of the largest urban parks in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Opened in 1924, the park covers approximately mostly inside the

610 Loop Interstate 610 (I-610) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway that forms a loop around the inner city sector of the city of Houston, Texas. I-610, colloquially known as The Loop, Loop 610, The Inner Loop, or just 610, traditionally marks ...

, across from the neighborhood of

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

. Memorial Drive runs through the park, heading east to downtown Houston and west to the 610 Loop. A small portion of land west of the 610 Loop bordered by Woodway Drive and Buffalo Bayou is also part of the park.

I-10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost transcontinental highway in the Interstate Highway System of the United States. It is the fourth-longest Interstate in the country at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. It was part of the originall ...

U.S. 90 U.S. Route 90 or U.S. Highway 90 (US 90) is an east–west major United States highway in the Southern United States. Despite the "0" in its route number, US 90 never was a full coast-to-coast route. It generally travels near Int ...

borders the park to the north. The park was originally designed by landscape architects Hare & Hare of

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

. In 2016, the operation of the park was transitioned from the

Houston Parks and Recreation Department The Houston Parks and Recreation Department (HPARD) operates and maintains the City of Houston's parks, playgrounds, swimming pools, golf courses, skateparks, and recreation centers; as well as, providing recreational programming. HPARD currently ...

to the

Memorial Park Conservancy A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as homes ...

, a private non-profit organization with a mission to "restore, preserve and enhance Memorial Park."

History

From 1917 to 1923, the land where the park currently exists was the site of

Camp Logan Camp Logan was a World War I–era army training camp in Houston, Texas, named after U.S. Senator and Civil War General John A. Logan. The site of the camp is now primarily occupied by Memorial Park where it borders the Crestwood neighborh ...

, a

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

training camp named after Illinois U.S. Senator and Civil War General John A. Logan. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the training camp was located on the far west boundaries of Houston. After the war in early 1924, Will and Mike Hogg, purchased of former Camp Logan land and sold the area to the city at cost. In May 1924, the City of Houston took ownership of the land to be used as a "memorial" park, dedicated to the memory of soldiers who lost their lives in the war. The park is adjacent to the

, Crestwood, and Rice Military neighborhoods. On April 25, 2018, philanthropists Rich and Nancy Kinder through their foundation, the

Kinder Foundation The Kinder Foundation is a Houston-based 501c3 nonprofit organization. It was established in 1997 by Richard Kinder and Nancy Kinder. Since its establishment, the Kinder Foundation has committed more than $410 million in grants and transformatio ...

, pledged $70 million to the Memorial Park Conservancy to accelerate redevelopment and restoration work.

Facilities

The park includes the 18-hole Memorial Park Golf Course, Texas's top-rated municipal

golf course A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a teeing ground, tee box, a #Fairway and rough, fairway, the #Fairway and rough, rough and other hazard (golf), hazards, and ...

. Formerly the site of a nine-hole course launched in 1912, it was completely redesigned by John Bredemus and opened in 1936. The

course rating Course may refer to: Directions or navigation * Course (navigation), the path of travel * Course (orienteering), a series of control points visited by orienteers during a competition, marked with red/white flags in the terrain, and corresponding ...

is 75.0 with a

slope rating The slope rating of a golf course is a measure of its relative difficulty for a bogey golfer compared to a scratch golfer. It is used by handicapping systems to equalize the field by accounting for the likelihood that, when playing on more diffi ...

of 130 from its back tees. Memorial Park hosted the

Houston Open The Texas Children's Houston Open is a professional golf tournament in Texas on the PGA Tour, played in March. As a part of a restructuring of the schedule, the event moved to the fall in 2019. Because the tour year starts the previous fall, the ...

on the

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

fourteen times and was renovated in 1995 at the cost of . The course will host the tournament again in the 2021 season (October 2020). The

ashes Ashes may refer to: * Ash, the solid remnants of fires. Media and entertainment Art * ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch Film * ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda * ''Ashes'' (1922 film), ...

of tour professional

Dave Marr David Francis Marr Jr. (December 27, 1933 – October 5, 1997) was an American professional golfer and sportscaster, best known for winning the 1965 PGA Championship. Early years Marr was born and raised in Houston, Texas, the son of a ...

were spread over the course, as it was where the winner of the

1965 PGA Championship The 1965 PGA Championship was the 47th PGA Championship, played August 12–15 at Laurel Valley Golf Club in Ligonier, Pennsylvania, a suburb southeast of Pittsburgh. Dave Marr won his only major championship, two strokes ahead of runners-up Bi ...

learned to play the game. The park also has facilities for tennis, softball, swimming, track, croquet, volleyball, skating, cycling, and a running course (). Very popular with Houston joggers, the running course is the Seymour Lieberman Exercise Trail, a crushed granite pathway that sees almost 3 million visits annually. There has been a shrinkage in the number of trees as a result of droughts and hurricanes. On the south side of Memorial Drive, there are miles of multi-use trails through the woods, a 'picnic' loop which is used heavily by road cyclists, softball fields, sand volleyball courts and a field for playing rugby or soccer. The softball fields are the home venue for the

Texas Southern Tigers The Texas Southern Tigers represent Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas, in intercollegiate athletics. They field sixteen teams including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, and track and field; women's-only bowling, socce ...

softball team. The

Houston Arboretum and Nature Center The Houston Arboretum and Nature Center (155 acres) is a non-profit arboretum and nature center located in Memorial Park at 4501 Woodway Drive, Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the ...

, an

arboretum An arboretum (: arboreta) is a botanical collection composed exclusively of trees and shrubs of a variety of species. Originally mostly created as a section in a larger garden or park for specimens of mostly non-local species, many modern arbor ...

and

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

, sits on within the park. The Nature Center building was constructed in 1967.

Becks Prime Becks Prime Equities, Ltd,Catering
." Becks Prime. Retrieved on March 31, 2010. ...

has a location on the grounds of the Memorial Park golf course, as does Smoothie King The restaurant is within the clubhouse, overlooking the golf course.Memorial Park
"

Becks Prime Becks Prime Equities, Ltd,Catering
." Becks Prime. Retrieved on March 31, 2010. ...

. Retrieved on March 31, 2010.

References

External links

Memorial Park Conservancy

Houston Arboretum and Nature Center

Memorial Park Golf Course
{{Houston, Texas Parks in Houston Neighborhoods in Houston Golf clubs and courses in Texas Softball venues in Houston World War I memorials in the United States 1924 establishments in Texas

History

Facilities

See also

References

External links