Hermann Park, nestled in the heart of Houston and surrounded by the Museum District, Rice University and the Texas Medical Center, is home to numerous institutions which offer a variety of recreational and cultural opportunities to the citizens of Houston. It is one Houston’s most beloved treasures and has been enjoyed by generations of Houstonians and visitors seeking respite from its urban surroundings. Institutions which call Hermann Park home include: Houston Zoo, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Hermann Park Golf Course, Japanese Garden, Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Pioneer Memorial Log House Museum and the recently dedicated Centennial Gardens (formerly the Houston Garden Center). Visitors also enjoy expanses of green space which offer passive and active recreational opportunities; the park offers picnic areas, The Buddy Carruth Playground for All Children, McGovern Lake, Mary Gibbs and Jesse H. Jones Reflection Pool, Molly Ann Smith Plaza, running/ hike & bike trails and natural areas within Bayou Parkland along Brays Bayou at the Park’s southern border.
Hermann Park was born in May of 1914 when Houston real estate investor and industrialist George H. Hermann announced his intention of deeding to the City of Houston 285 acres for a municipal park across the street from the Rice Institute. The land was donated by Hermann “for and in consideration of my desire to promote the general welfare of The City of Houston, and the health, comfort, and happiness of the citizens thereof.” A century later, Hermann Park is 445-acres of beautiful green space and is visited by an estimated 6 million people per year. The Park as it exists today is a culmination of 100 years of planning and partnership.
In 1915, after the park’s dedication, celebrated St. Louis landscape architect and planner George Kessler was appointed consulting landscape architect. His plans included the “grand basin”, now McGovern Lake, and a landscaped elliptical island with a Sunken Garden, now the Mecom Fountain. In the early 1920’s, additional amenities were added to the park, including Miller Outdoor Theatre and the Hermann Park Golf Course. Miller Outdoor Theatre was initially dedicated as a ‘permanent bandstand’ in Hermann Park. The original theatre was designed by William Ward Watkin as an amphitheater surrounded by twenty Corinthian-style limestone columns; the columns were relocated during subsequent renovations to the theatre and now surround the Mecom Rockwell Fountain at the northern edge of the Park. The theatre has undergone numerous renovations and modernizations and has continued to provide theatrical and musical programming free to the public since its dedication. In 2011, more than 480,000 visitors enjoyed performances at the theatre.
Constructed in 1922, the Hermann Park Golf course was among the first integrated public golf courses in America. The original golf course clubhouse currently houses Houston Parks and Recreation Department staff, and a historically sensitive renovation of the building is in the planning stages. The Spanish- style clubhouse was designed by Alfred E. Nutter in 1924 and constructed in 1932.
In 1924, a master plan was completed by Hare and Hare which incorporated the vision from George Kessler’s original plan, including the grand basin and park entry. The layout for the Houston Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theatre and Hermann Park Golf Course were incorporated into the Master Plan. Also in 1924, the distinctive Sam Houston Monument, which greets visitors as they enter the historic entrance to the park, was installed. This monument was created by Enricio Cerrachio and erected in Hermann Park on a 35-foot-tall marble pedestal sculpted by artist Frank A. Teich. The monument shows Sam Houston on his horse pointing towards the San Jacinto Battleground.
In addition, the Pioneer Memorial Log House was built in 1936 by the San Jacinto Chapter of The Daughters of the Republic of Texas. Although the nation was in the midst of the Great Depression, members raised almost $3,000 for its construction. The City of Houston donated land in Hermann Park in honor of its founders, the Allen brothers. More than 250 pine logs were cut, peeled and saddle-notched. Stones and bricks from historic buildings and ancestral homes were gathered by members to use in its construction and for the fireplace that spans one end of the building. The house is furnished with period pieces that reflect the formative period of the Texas Republic. The building was dedicated on March 2nd of 1936, the 100th anniversary of the Texas Declaration of
Independence from Mexico. Used as a hospitality center during the year-long observance of the centennial, the Log House has remained the meeting place for the San Jacinto Chapter. In 1996, the Log House was rededicated as a museum. The mission of the Pioneer Memorial Log House Museum (PMLHM) is to collect and preserve documents and artifacts relating to early Texas, and to serve as a resource for teaching the state’s unique history through exhibits and education programs. Special significance is placed on the Texas Revolution, especially the Battle of San Jacinto, the Republic of Texas years, and the contribution of women during this period. During the Texas Sesquicentennial in 1986, the Texas Historical Commission recognized the Log House with an historic marker.
Also erected in 1936 in celebration of the centennial of Texas Independence, the Pioneer Memorial granite obelisk honors the early pioneers who founded Houston. It was also created by sculptor Frank A. Teich, a German Immigrant who came to the U.S. in 1878.
Throughout the years, additional features were added to the Park, including the Museum of Natural Science (which leases land for its facilities), the beloved miniature train, construction of the ‘grand basin’ depicted in the original Kessler Master Plan, a two-mile exercise trail, the Japanese Garden, the Buddy Carruth Playground for All Children and a memorial statue created by sculptor Lonnie Joe Edwards in honor of George Hermann.
By the late 1980’s, the park was being loved to death. Many of the features had fallen into disrepair. In 1991, the Friends of Hermann Park (FHP), a 501-C3 organization was established to collect donations to fund improvements. In 1992 the group, along with the Rice Design Alliance and the City of Houston, sponsored a national design competition, to restore, enhance and strengthen the historic “Heart of the Park” consisting of the Park entryway, reflection pond and “Grand Basin”. In 1995, FHP hired renowned landscape architect Laurie Olin to create a master plan for the park. By 1997, FHP had raised $15 million in private contributions for the $25 million upgrades to Hermann Park.
In 1998, FHP organized volunteers to clear invasive trees and understory brush from the ‘urban forest’ known as Bayou Parkland on the Park’s southern border across Brays Bayou from the remainder of the Park. The same year, FHP purchased an out parcel of land adjacent to the Bayou Parkland, at the Park’s southern edge. A gas station was being planned for the parcel prior to purchase. The group improved the land with trails and boardwalks, and conducted environmental programming for local school children for several years. FHP, now the Hermann Park Conservancy has continued this work, tirelessly advocating for the Park, coordinating volunteer programs to supplement the Houston Parks and Recreation Department’s maintenance activities, and raising funds for and managing multiple capital improvements. Capital improvements completed by the Conservancy include completion of the “Heart of the Park”, renovation of the Hermann Park Golf Course, reforestation programs resulting in hundreds of new trees being planted, improvements to the exercise and running trail to connect all areas of the park, additional thoughtfully designed parking, a new greenway which links the eastern side of the park through the Golf Course to Heart of the Park, and the recently renovated McGovern Centennial Gardens which were dedicated in 2014 to honor Hermann Park’s 100th Anniversary.