Wooldridge Park

Wooldridge Park, also known as Wooldridge Square, is an urban park in downtown Austin, Texas. The park consists of a city block containing a natural basin whose sides slope inward to form an amphitheater with a bandstand at its center. The park was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.[2]

Wooldridge Park
The gazebo in Wooldridge Park is a popular spot for outdoor concerts and weddings among other engagements.
LocationAustin, Texas
United States
Coordinates30°16′20″N 97°44′43″W
Area1.8 acres (0.73 ha)
BuiltJune 18, 1909 (1909-06-18)
ArchitectPage & Page
Architectural styleClassical Revival
NRHP reference No.79003018[1]
Added to NRHP1 August 1979

History

Wooldridge Park is one of four original public squares designated in downtown Austin in the 1839 Waller Plan for the city drawn up by Edwin Waller, but it lay vacant for seventy years. In an era of civic pride in 1909, however, Austin Mayor A. P. Wooldridge sponsored the cleaning of the square and the construction of a classical revival-style gazebo for public engagements, which officially opened the same year.[3] The park was dedicated on June 18, 1909 to considerable aplomb with dedicatory address being made by the Mayor.

Wooldridge Park is the only one of the original public squares to have retained its original function; the other three underwent various uses over time, hosting parking lots, a fire station, a church, a museum, and businesses.[4]

The view of the Texas State Capitol from Wooldridge Park is one of the Capitol View Corridors protected under state and local law from obstruction by tall buildings since 1983.[5]

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "Wooldridge Park". Austin Parks Foundations. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  3. "Wooldridge Park". Texas Historical Commission. 1971.
  4. "TEXAS - Travis County Historic Districts". National Register of Historic Places. Retrieved September 7, 2011.
  5. "Downtown Development and Capitol View Corridors" (PDF). Downtown Austin Commission. June 27, 2007. Retrieved November 10, 2017.
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