DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, in my own words. Now, some parks just sit there — benches, maybe a fountain, a couple of pigeons with opinions. And then there are parks that hold a whole community together like a knot in good rope.
Pike Park, up in Dallas, is very much the second kind. The City of Dallas purchased this site back in 1912 and into 1913, set aside as a neighborhood park. They developed it under the name Summit Play Park, and by the 1920s it was serving a predominantly Mexican-American community — the neighborhood folks called it Little Mexico, and that name tells you just about everything you need to know about the heart of the place.
In 1927, the park got a new name. They changed it to honor a former park board member, a man named Edgar L. Pike.
So Summit Play Park became Pike Park, and Pike Park it has stayed. Then came World War II, and here's where the story picks up a particular weight. During those years, Pike Park became an important gathering place for Mexican-American servicemen — some of them residents of Little Mexico, some of them just passing through and visiting the city.
You think about what that means. Young men, uniformed, heading toward something hard and uncertain, stopping in this park. It was a place that knew them, and they knew it.
After the war, the park kept right on doing what it had always done — holding people. It has become the focal point of the community's cultural, recreational, and political interests. And every year the celebrations come around: Cinco de Mayo, Diez y Seis de Septiembre, annual festivities that, as the marker puts it, reflect a proud heritage.
That's not decoration. That's a community telling its own story, out loud, every single year, in a park that's been listening since 1912.
What the marker says
The City of Dallas purchased this site in 1912-13 for a neighborhood park. Developed as Summit Play Park, it served a predominately Mexican-American community by the 1920s. The park name was changed in 1927 to honor a former park board member, Edgar L. Pike. During World War II Pike Park was an important gathering place for Mexican-American servicemen, both residents of "Little Mexico" and those visiting the city. It has become the focal point of the community's cultural, recreational, and political interests. Annual festivities, including Cinco de Mayo and Diez y Seis de Septiembre, reflect a proud heritage. La Ciudad de Dallas adquirio este sitio en 1912-13 para un parque vecinal. Construido como Summit Play Park, sirvio a la comunidad mexico-americana en los años 1920. El nombre del parque se cambio en 1927 en honor a un ex-miembro de la mesa directiva de parques, Edgar L. Pike. Durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial el parque fue un importante lugar para reuniones de soldados mexico-americanos, tanto residentes de "Little Mexico" como visitantes a la ciudad. Hoy, el parque se ha convertido en un centro de actividades culturales, recreativas, y politicas. Celebraciones anuales, como El 5 de Mayo y El 16 de Septiembre, reflejan una orgullosa herencia. (1981)