Reverchon officially opened in 1915 after land was purchased by the City of Dallas. It was named after the French botanist Julien Reverchon who had come to Texas with his father after the Revolution of 1848 and was a member of the La Reunion colony in Dallas. As a boy Julien was fascinated with plants and collected them to study their origins and purpose. Later, after a brief time in the farm and dairy business he spent the rest of his life researching and writing about plants. He had a collection of over 20,000 plant species and some of his collection is in the Smithsonian Institute. Reverchon eventually became professor of botany at the Baylor University College of Medicine and Pharmacy in Dallas.
Reverchon Park is defined on the west edge by waters of the Trinity River and its tributaries. The original course of the Trinity River ran through the park, where it was met by Turtle Creek, a tributary stream that forms the eastern boundary of the park. The area around Reverchon Park attracted settlers to due to its water source, hunting, a panoramic view of the city, and rolling meadows.
The 36 acres that formed the original Reverchon Park was purchased by the City of Dallas for $31,128 in 1915 from the estate of John D. Cole. A year prior the city had created the Turtle Creek Pump Station to help improve the water quality of the tributary stream. The park was named after Reverchon, who had died a ten years prior in 1905.
The park was significantly developed during the New Deal years. Eager to use federal funds, the City of Dallas directed Works Progress Administration (WPA) toward making the city’s park system a showcase for the city and the new Democratic coalition. Between 1935 and 1937, Reverchon Park was transformed through a series of amazing stonework projects that included the floral amphitheater(1935-36), known as the Iris Bowl. A gorgeous fountain was also built(as part of the Gill well project by WPA) and the picturesque bridge over Turtle Creek. (Per the Dallas Municipal Archives, the ball field opened in 1920 at Reverchon Park, the grandstand in 1924, and was made the first lighted field in the Dallas Park system in the very late 1930’s).
And then there was a time, as happens in so many parks, when care of the park diminished and attention, out of necessity, was placed elsewhere and Reverchon lost some of its splendor. The city grew up around it. Freeways were built nearby, and busy streets were crowded with cars. New businesses and high rise residences surrounded the park.
And then in the late 1990s the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, led then by J. C. Montgomery, invested in a long-term renewal of the park. In 2002 hundreds of surgeons congregating in Dallas for a convention, participated in the construction of the park’s amazing playground.