Memorial Park

To accelerate implementation of the visionary Memorial Park Master Plan, the Kinder Foundation offered a gift of $70 million to Memorial Park Conservancy in April 2018. This gift became the catalyst for a public-private partnership with the City of Houston. The resulting “Ten-Year Plan” provides capital funds for many of the Master Plan signature projects and critical connections over the next 10 years along with committed resources for their long-term care.

A unique nature bridge will connect the park’s north and south sides, providing safe crossing for all people and wildlife.
The Memorial Groves will serve as a living memorial in the form of a hardwood forest commemorating Camp Logan soldiers and will be an ideal space for field trips, family gatherings and community education.
Memorial Park is Houston’s largest urban park with 4 million visitors per year from 170 zip codes across the greater Houston region.
More than 7,000 Houstonians visited the Land Bridge tunnels at a public sneak peek event on February 5, 2022. The tunnels are expected to open to vehicular traffic Spring 2022. Photo courtesy of Memorial Park Conservancy.
Hines Lake in Clay Family Eastern Glades; Image Courtesy of Memorial Park Conservancy

To accelerate the visionary Memorial Park Master Plan, the Kinder Foundation offered a gift of $70 million to Memorial Park Conservancy in April 2018. Houston’s largest single parks gift served as a catalyst for public-private partnership with the City of Houston. The Kinder Foundation gift specifies that Memorial Park Conservancy will raise the remaining $55 million of the total $125 million in private funding, with the City committing to a $50 million public dollar investment for infrastructure improvements. It also leverages the potential for $30 million in federal support.

he foundation’s grant supports connectivity to and within the park including a land bridge and prairie over Memorial Drive; destination projects Eastern Glades, Memorial Groves, and the Sports Complex; and ecological restoration. Other plan additions include a trail/bridge system north over I-10, linking the White Oak Bayou Greenway trail system, and south over Buffalo Bayou; a 1.5-mile accessibility trail through the 600-acre wilderness, and other trails and crossings. See the full Memorial Park Master Plan approved by Houston City Council in 2015.

The Clay Family Eastern Glades opened to critical acclaim in July 2020 and the Land Bridge and Prairie will open for vehicular traffic in Spring 2022 and be completed Fall of 2022.

memorialparkconservancy.org

News & Press