Memorial Park, Houston, Texas
Encyclopedia
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, is one of the largest urban parks in the United States. Opened in 1924, the park covers approximately 1466 acres (6 km²) inside the 610 Loop, across from the neighborhood of Memorial. Memorial Drive
Memorial Drive (Houston, Texas)
Memorial Drive is an arterial road in the western half of Houston, Texas, United States. It runs from Interstate 45 west to State Highway 6, a distance of approximately 20 miles , although a section goes through several predominantly higher-income residential neighborhoods in the cities of...
runs through the park, heading east to downtown Houston and west to the 610 Loop. I-10
Interstate 10 in Texas
Interstate 10 is the major east–west Interstate Highway in the Southern United States. In the U.S. state of Texas, it runs east from El Paso, near the border with New Mexico, through San Antonio and Houston to the border with Louisiana in Orange, Texas....
borders the park to the north. The park was originally designed by landscape architects Hare & Hare of Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
.
From 1917 to 1923, the land where the park currently exists was the site of Camp Logan
Camp Logan
Camp Logan was a World War I-era army training camp in Houston, Texas. The site of the camp is now primarily occupied by Memorial Park where it borders the Crestwood neighborhood, near Memorial Elementary School. Some chunks of concrete, many building foundations, and extensive trenches used for...
, a World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
US Army training camp. During wartime, the training camp was located on the far west boundaries of Houston. After the war in early 1924, Will and Mike Hogg, purchased 1503 acres (6 km²) 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 serving in World War I. The park is adjacent to the Camp Logan
Camp Logan
Camp Logan was a World War I-era army training camp in Houston, Texas. The site of the camp is now primarily occupied by Memorial Park where it borders the Crestwood neighborhood, near Memorial Elementary School. Some chunks of concrete, many building foundations, and extensive trenches used for...
, Crestwood
Crestwood, Houston, Texas
The Crestwood neighborhood of Houston, Texas, is located just a few miles from downtown, along the north side of Memorial Drive, east of Memorial Park....
, and Rice Military neighborhoods.
The park includes the 18-hole Memorial Park Golf Course, Texas’s top-rated municipal golf course which opened in 1936. The course has a course rating of 73 and a slope rating of 122. The golf course was designed by John Bredemus. The course was renovated at the cost of $7 million in 1995..The ashes of former professional golfer Dave Marr
Dave Marr
David Francis Marr, Jr. was an American professional golfer and sportscaster, best known for winning the 1965 PGA Championship.-Early years:...
were spread over the course after Marr's death, as Memorial Park was the course where Marr learned to play golf.
The park also has facilities for tennis, softball, swimming, track, croquet, volleyball, skating, cycling and a running course (2.93 miles), and is very popular with Houston joggers. The park is also home to the Seymour Lieberman Exercise Trail, a 2.93 mile crushed granite pathway that sees almost 3 million visits annually.
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 Houston Arboretum and Nature Center
Houston Arboretum and Nature Center
The Houston Arboretum and Nature Center is a non-profit arboretum and nature center located in Memorial Park at 4501 Woodway Drive, Houston, Texas. It is open daily with free admission....
, an arboretum
Arboretum
An arboretum in a narrow sense is a collection of trees only. Related collections include a fruticetum , and a viticetum, a collection of vines. More commonly, today, an arboretum is a botanical garden containing living collections of woody plants intended at least partly for scientific study...
and botanical garden
Botanical garden
A botanical garden The 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 a well-tended area displaying a wide range of plants labelled with their botanical names...
, sits on 155 acre (0.6272633 km²) within the park. The Nature Center building was constructed in 1967.
Becks Prime
Becks Prime
Becks Prime Equities, Ltd, also known as Becks Prime Restaurants, is a gourmet hamburger restaurant chain with locations in Greater Houston in Texas. As of 2010 Win Campbell is the chief executive officer. Its headquarters is located in the Energy Corridor area of Houston.Its original location,...
has a location on the grounds of the Memorial Park golf course. The restaurant is within the clubhouse, overlooking the golf course.