Old City Park
Dallas, Dallas County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Indian tribes were once attracted to this park site by a series of natural springs, which became known as Browder Springs after Edward C. Browder (1825 - 1875) acquired the property in 1845. The springs figured in legislation which made Dallas the intersection of the Texas & Pacific and Houston & Texas Central Railroads in 1871 and launched the town's rapid growth. On July 4, 1876, to honor the American Centennial, ten acres near the springs were set aside as Dallas' first municipal park. "City Park" was also known as "Eakins Park" because J. J. Eakin originally owned the land. By 1885 nine more acres, including the Browder Springs property, were added. The springs supplied water to the city, and the park grounds provided a center for leisure activities and group gatherings. A neighborhood of elegant homes, called "The Cedars," grew up nearby. The city's first zoo was here; fountains, greenhouses, tennis courts, a playground and a wading pool were later added. In 1936 the site was renamed "Sullivan Park" for Dallas Water Commissioner Dan L. Sullivan, but it remained popularly known as "Old City Park." In 1966 the Dallas Park Board agreed to allow the Dallas County Heritage Society to revitalize the park as a "heritage center" of restored historic structures.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The springs on this ground drew Native peoples long before a settler acquired the property in the 1840s, and the same water later helped make Dallas the crossing point of two major railroads in 1871 — the spark for the town's explosive growth. In 1876 the city set aside ten acres near the springs as its first public park, a leafy center of fountains, a zoo, and a wading pool that a heritage society would later reclaim as a museum of restored historic buildings.
Why it matters
From Indigenous watering place to railroad catalyst to Dallas's first municipal park, this small tract traces the whole birth of a great American city.
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Related people
- · Edward C. Browder
Themes & tags
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