A 100-acre swath of Memorial Park will be reimagined as a living monument to the park’s storied past.
The $42 million Memorial Groves project will transform a section of the park along West Memorial Loop Drive, honoring the original vision of the park as a greenspace paying tribute to Houston’s World War I history, while also adding new recreational amenities as well as parking for visitors.
Designed by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects, the focal point of Memorial Groves will be a living remembrance that changes colors with the seasons – a forest of more than 2,000 bald cypress planted in a grid around mature existing trees. These cypress trees, covering 20 acres along West Memorial Loop, will symbolize soldiers standing in formation and evoke the vast scale of Camp Logan and the overall war effort. A contemplative earthwork inspired by WWI trenches will be positioned at the north end of the forest and framed on two sides by grassy, 12-foot-tall earthen mounds creating a serene space with a reflective water feature at its center.
Amenities set within the restored native landscape and cypress groves will include a new playground, trails for cyclists and walkers as well as lawns and other spaces for picnics and family play. A new visitors’ center designed by Moody Nolan will anchor the north end of Memorial Groves and will include offices for Memorial Park Conservancy. A series of linear, open lawns will demarcate the former Camp Logan streets, while new parking spaces will be added at both ends of Memorial Groves.
The Memorial Groves project is being accelerated by gifts from Kinder Foundation ($10 million), John L. Nau, III ($7.5 million) and Brown Foundation ($7.5 million). The project is just the latest of several transformative improvements that are part of the Memorial Park Master Plan, including the Eastern Glades and the Land Bridge and Prairie Project.
Memorial Park Conservancy President and CEO Chris Ballard said many of the park’s daily visitors are likely not be aware of the space’s rich history. “We hope that’s exactly what Memorial Groves will accomplish: to tell the story of Memorial Park, how it came to be, and why it’s crucial to preserve and protect into its second century,” Ballard said. “The generosity of the Kinder Foundation, the Brown Foundation, and Mr. Nau provide foundational support for this project, and serve as a call to others to support the telling of this important part of Memorial Park’s and Houston’s history.”
All of what is now Memorial Park was utilized from 1917 to 1919 by the United States Army as the heart of Camp Logan, a WWI training facility. Memorial Groves is located within a narrow tract of the park that runs north to south, primarily between the Union Pacific rail line and West Memorial Loop Drive. This location holds the largest number of Camp Logan archeological finds within the park.
Written by Staff
