DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Old City Park in Dallas County. Now settle in, because this particular patch of ground has been drawing folks to it for a long, long time — and the story of why is something else entirely. It starts, as the best Texas stories often do, with water.
Natural springs, bubbling up right here, caught the attention of Indian tribes long before anyone dreamed of calling this place a park or a city or anything else. The springs were just there, generous and reliable, doing what springs do. Then along came Edward C.
Browder — born in 1825, gone by 1875 — who acquired the property in 1845, and from that point forward those springs carried his name: Browder Springs. A man owns the land around a spring, the spring gets his name. That's just how it goes in Texas.
Now here's where the water starts pulling some real weight in history. Those springs — those same quiet, bubbling springs — actually figured into the legislation that made Dallas the intersection of the Texas and Pacific and the Houston and Texas Central Railroads in 1871. You heard that right.
Springs and railroads, tied together in the law. And once those rails crossed right here, the town's rapid growth was launched, just like that. Fast forward five years, to the Fourth of July, 1876.
The nation is one hundred years old, and Dallas decides to mark the American Centennial with something lasting. Ten acres near the springs get set aside — the very first municipal park the city of Dallas ever had. They called it City Park.
They also called it Eakins Park, on account of a fellow named J. J. Eakin who originally owned that land.
Two names for one park. Dallas was never short on opinions about what to call a thing. By 1885 the city had added nine more acres, including the Browder Springs property itself, bringing the whole thing together.
The springs went to work supplying water to the city, and the park went to work supplying something else entirely — a place to breathe. Leisure activities, group gatherings. The city's first zoo took up residence here.
Fountains came. Greenhouses. Tennis courts, a playground, a wading pool.
And nearby, a neighborhood of elegant homes grew up, a place people called The Cedars. Then 1936 rolls around, and the city renames the park Sullivan Park, in honor of Dallas Water Commissioner Dan L. Sullivan.
Official name, on the books, done. Except — and here's the thing about a place that's been beloved long enough — people just kept right on calling it Old City Park. You can rename a park.
You cannot always rename a memory. By 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. And so the ground that drew Indian tribes to its springs, that helped route railroads, that gave Dallas its first zoo and its first real park — that ground got one more chapter.
Old City Park. The name the people chose. And it stuck.
What the marker says
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.