Buffalo Bayou Park | |
---|---|
![]() Downtown Houston from Buffalo Bayou Park | |
![]() | |
Type | Linear park |
Location | Houston, Texas |
Coordinates | 29°45′40″N95°23′02″W / 29.761°N 95.384°W |
Area | 160 acres (0.65 km2) |
Opened | October 2015 |
Operated by | Buffalo Bayou Partnership |
Status | Open |
Website | Houston Parks and Recreation |
Buffalo Bayou Park is a 2.3 mile long municipal park located along the banks of the Buffalo Bayou near Downtown Houston, Texas.
With a total area of 160 acres, Buffalo Bayou Park stretches from Shepherd Drive to Sabine Street, between Allen Parkway and Memorial Drive. Opened in 2015, the park features a variety of recreational activities including a skate park, picnic area, children's play area, dog park, cultural events hall, and miles of bike and hiking trails. [1]
The area now known as Buffalo Bayou Park was earmarked for parkland since the early 1900s. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, the City of Houston was gifted or outright purchased tracts of land around the Bayou with the intention of creating a city park. Due to increasing development, the land was subdivided into smaller parks, roadways, various public spaces and Interstate 45. Eventually, due to the presence of Allen Parkway to the south and Memorial Drive to the north, it became difficult for pedestrians to enter the park. During the 1950s, consistent flooding issues led the Army Corps of Engineers to strip the banks of vegetation and straighten the Bayou in order to allow floodwaters to easily pass through. The project failed to improve drainage as the lack of trees caused brush to grow and impede the flow of water. [2]
In 2011, the city entered an agreement with the Buffalo Bayou Partnership to develop and renovate the site. The $50 million renovation project was financed by a series of private donations, including a $30 million from the Kinder Foundation, with some public funding. [3] Eleanor Tinsley Park, which is now a section of Buffalo Bayou Park was also renovated during the same project. [4] The updated park was officially opened in October 2015. [5]
Named after Houston architect, Johnny Steele, the dog park opened in January 2015. The 2 acre park consists of separate play areas for large and small dogs, a pond where dogs can swim freely, and dog washing areas. [6] Due to its proximity to the Bayou, it is designed to handle periods of flooding from storms. [7] [8]
The 30,000 square foot skate park is named after Houston attorney Joe Jamail. Completed in 2008 at a cost of $2.7 million and renovated in 2016, the world-class skate park has hosted a variety of events and competitions. [9]
Located near the skatepark, the Barbara Fish Daniel Nature Play Area and Picnic Pavilion includes a boulder rock scramble, a stream and waterfall, a sandpit, climbing logs and stones and a slide. It features a tree house with a climbing net and a picnic pavilion that can be rented out for events such as birthday parties. [10]
The Cistern is a 87,500 square foot public space for visual art and sound installations. [11] Once a water reservoir for the City of Houston, the structure was decommissioned in 2007 due to an irreparable water leak. [11] In 2010, Houston architecture and engineering firm, Page, transformed the historic reservoir into an ultra minimalist, safe, and accessible attraction. [12] The Cistern opened in May 2016, [12] and the first art exhibit debuted in December 2016. [13]
Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10, Interstate 45, and Interstate 69. The 1.84-square-mile (4.8 km2) district, enclosed by the aforementioned highways, contains the original townsite of Houston at the confluence of Buffalo Bayou and White Oak Bayou, a point known as Allen's Landing. Downtown has been the city's preeminent commercial district since its founding in 1836.
Westbury is a neighborhood in the Brays Oaks district of Southwest Houston, Texas, United States. It is located east of Bob White Road, north of U.S. Highway 90 Alternate, and west of South Post Oak Road, adjacent to the Fondren Southwest and Meyerland neighborhoods, just west of the southwest corner of the 610 Loop.
The Memorial area of Houston, Texas is located west of Downtown, northwest of Uptown, and south of Spring Branch. The Memorial Super Neighborhood, as defined by the City of Houston, is bounded by Buffalo Bayou to the south, Barker Reservoir to the west, Westview to the north, and the Memorial Villages, a contiguous group of independent municipalities, to the east.
Buffalo Bayou is a slow-moving body of water which flows through Houston in Harris County, Texas. Formed 18,000 years ago, it has its source in the prairie surrounding Katy, Fort Bend County, and flows approximately 53 miles (85 km) east through the Houston Ship Channel into Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to drainage water impounded and released by the Addicks and Barker reservoirs, the bayou is fed by natural springs, surface runoff, and several significant tributary bayous, including White Oak Bayou, Greens Bayou, and Brays Bayou. Additionally, Buffalo Bayou is considered a tidal river downstream of a point 440 yards (400 m) west of the Shepherd Drive bridge in west-central Houston.
Joseph Dahr Jamail Jr. was an American attorney and billionaire. The wealthiest practicing attorney in America, he was frequently referred to as the "King of Torts".
Memorial Park, a municipal park in Houston, Texas, is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. Opened 100 years ago in 1924, the park covers approximately 1,466 acres (5.9 km2) mostly inside the 610 Loop, across from the neighborhood of Memorial. 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/U.S. 90 borders the park to the north. The park was originally designed by landscape architects Hare & Hare of Kansas City, Missouri. In 2016, the operation of the park was transitioned from the Houston Parks and Recreation Department to the Memorial Park Conservancy, a private non-profit organization with a mission to "restore, preserve and enhance Memorial Park."
George Bush Park is a county park in Houston, Texas, United States, located on the far west side of the city. Situated entirely within Barker Reservoir, a large flood control structure, the park covers 7,800 acres (32 km2), most of which is undeveloped forest used for the storage of floodwater. A variety of public recreation facilities are located along Westheimer Parkway, which bisects the park, including soccer and baseball field complexes, a shooting range, and a dog park. Named in honor of former Houston-area U.S. Representative and President George H. W. Bush, the park was known as Cullen–Barker Park until 1997.
Hermann Park is a 445-acre (180-hectare) urban park in Houston, Texas, situated at the southern end of the Museum District. The park is located to the immediate north end of the MD Anderson Cancer Center at Texas Medical Center and Brays Bayou, east of Rice University, and slightly west of the Third Ward. Hermann Park is home to numerous cultural institutions including the Houston Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and the Hermann Park Golf Course, which became one of the first desegregated public golf courses in the United States in 1954. The park also features the Mary Gibbs and Jesse H. Jones Reflection Pool, numerous gardens, picnic areas, and McGovern Lake, an 8-acre (32,000 m2) recreational lake.
Greater Greenspoint, also referred to as the North Houston District, is a 7-square-mile (18 km2) business district and a suburban neighborhood in northern Harris County, Texas, United States, located mostly within the city limits of Houston. Centered around the junction of Interstate 45 and Texas State Highway Beltway 8 near George Bush Intercontinental Airport, the area is a classic example of a planned edge city. The initial 2,000-acre (8.1 km2) retail and office development centered around Greenspoint Mall was a project of the Friendswood Development Company during the 1970s and early 1980s.
Houston, the most populous city in the Southern United States, is located along the upper Texas Gulf Coast, approximately 50 miles (80 km) northwest of the Gulf of Mexico at Galveston. The city, which is the ninth-largest in the United States by area, covers 601.7 square miles (1,558 km2), of which 579.4 square miles (1,501 km2), or 96.3%, is land and 22.3 square miles (58 km2), or 3.7%, is water.
Allen Parkway is an arterial road west of Downtown Houston, Texas. It has a distance of approximately 2.3 miles (3.7 km), running from Interstate 45 west to Shepherd Drive, where it becomes Kirby Drive. Originally known as Buffalo Parkway, it was later named after John Kirby Allen and Augustus Chapman Allen, the founders of Houston.
The Energy Corridor is a business district in Houston, Texas, located on the west side of the metropolitan area between Beltway 8 and the Grand Parkway. The district straddles a 7-mile (11 km) stretch of Interstate 10 from Kirkwood Road westward to Barker Cypress Road and extends south along Eldridge Parkway to Briar Forest Drive. Parts of the district overlap with the Memorial area of Houston. The district is located north of Westchase, another major business district of Houston, and east of Greater Katy.
Gabriel Park is a 90.65-acre (366,800 m2) public park in Portland, Oregon, United States. It features a baseball field, softball field, soccer field, basketball courts, tennis courts, skatepark, volleyball courts, disabled access play area, disabled access restrooms, dog off-leash area, paved and unpaved paths, reservable picnic sites, and WiFi. The park is located between the Maplewood, Multnomah, and Hillsdale neighborhoods of Southwest Portland at 45th Avenue and Vermont Street.
The Free Press Summer Festival was an annual two-day music festival held in Houston, Texas at Buffalo Bayou's Eleanor Tinsley Park.
The Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark is a public skatepark in Houston, Texas, United States. The $2.7 million project opened in June 2008. At over 40,000 square feet, it is one of the largest in Texas. It has two cradles, one of which is thought to be the largest in the United States, as well as a kidney pool, a large bowl with 12.5 ft (3.8 m) deep end and a street/flow area. The park was designed by Gridline Concrete Skatepark Design. The facility is free to the public. BMX bikes are not permitted. It is named after Texas billionaire lawyer Joe Jamail and his wife Lee. The Lee and Joe Jamail Skatepark is located at 103 Sabine Street Houston, TX 77007, on the Sabine Street bridge with a view of the Houston skyline.
Eleanor Tinsley Park is a section of Buffalo Bayou Park in Houston, Texas. It was designated on April 20, 1998 in honor of Eleanor Tinsley, who served as a member of the Houston City Council At-Large for 16 years.
Gemini Springs Park is a 210-acre (85 ha) public nature park in DeBary, Florida, United States featuring two springs. The park, completed in 1996, is situated on bayou northwest of Lake Monroe.
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 transformation gifts to Houston projects.
Emancipation Park and Emancipation Community Center are located at 3018 Emancipation Ave in the Third Ward area of Houston. It is the oldest park in Houston, and the oldest in Texas. In portions of the Jim Crow period it was the sole public park in the area available to African-Americans.