From the Houston Chronicle
More than a century ago, two Houston pastors and a local political leader — each of them former slaves — raised $800 to buy 10 acres of what would ultimately become the first park in Texas and the only city park open to blacks for more than 20 years.
Now community leaders are trying to raise $2 million to make improvements to Emancipation Park in Houston’s Third Ward, including the additions of a memorial fitness trail, a demonstration garden, a children’s water park, new tennis courts and a festival space with an open stage.
They also want to hire employees to oversee and clean the park’s facilities.
Through the years, the park at Elgin and Dowling has fallen into disrepair and neglect, suffering from crime. But Dorris Ellis — president of the nonprofit Friends of Emancipation Park Board and publisher of the Houston Sun newspaper — wants to change that.
“We want to restore this park — we want it to be a destination place,” Ellis said Tuesday. “We want it to be a masterpiece. We have a wonderful vision … We’re planning for 50 years, 100 years down the road,” she said.
The park, which is among Houston’s historically protected landmarks, first opened in 1872 when pastors Jack Yates and Elias Dibble and political leader Richard Allen raised $800 to acquire the land at an interest rate 6 percent higher than white citizens were charged, Ellis said.
