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 Memorial Park - Houston, Texas Posted by:  JimmyEv
N 29° 45.888 W 095° 25.880
15R E 264916 N 3295200
Memorial Drive slices Houston’s largest city park in half, giving it somewhat of a split personality. Head north of Memorial Drive if you long for civilized outdoor amenities; head south of Memorial Drive to get lost in the wilds underneath the pines along the banks of Buffalo Bayou.
Waymark Code: WMVMR
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 10/18/2006
Views: 163
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The north side of the park is built along the perimeter of an 18-hole golf course, complete with a clubhouse containing a Beck’s Prime franchise. Encircling the golf course is Houston’s most popular jogging trail, 2.93 miles of crushed granite, jammed with people even on the hottest days. The official beginning of the trail is outside of the tennis center at a stretching station. If running through 95 degree heat with 95% humidity has dehydrated you, there’s a smoothie bar inside the tennis center. Other facilities on this side of the park include a small playground, a pool with a water slide, a fitness center, a baseball field, an asphalt quarter-mile running trail, a football (rugby) field often used for soccer, two sand volleyball courts, and even a croquet court. |
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The south side of the park is the wild side. The only developments are a few playing fields and a loop road winding through a beautiful picnic grove. Restrooms and picnic tables are available, but no grills. The asphalt road, open to vehicles Monday-Friday 11am-3pm and Saturday-Sunday 6:30am-8:30pm, is thick with roller bladers and bicyclists.
Beyond the picnic area and playing fields, mountain biking and hiking trails traverse the steep ravines cut through the soft soil by floods. These trails are sometimes referred to as the ‘Ho Chi Minh’ trails due to the jungle-like conditions. Maps of the three mountain bike routes, all color-coded, are posted at the trailheads and can be found at the GHORBA website. The mountain bike trails are fun for hiking, too. Other hiking trails (closed to mountain bikes) lead back to Buffalo Bayou. You can download a 5-mile hiking track from wikiloc, or just string together a hike from the geocaches in the park.
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Back along the hiking and mountain biking trails, hidden in the heavy overgrowth, you might spot some of the ruins of Camp Logan. Camp Logan was built in the middle of World War I (1917) on the then-outskirts of Houston as an emergency training camp for new soldiers. The camp eventually covered 3,002 acres with 1,329 buildings for 44,889 soldiers. The camp was the source of one of the most troubling, and forgotten, pieces of Houston history, remembered only by a historical marker and in a small exhibit at the Buffalo Soldiers National Museum.
During the construction of the camp, a black unit of the third battalion of the twenty-fourth infantry was sent to guard the site. At this time Houston, like most of the South, was segregated. The locals weren’t very happy with this battalion sitting on the outskirts of town. The problems started on August 23, 1917, when a black soldier was arrested for interfering with the arrest of a black woman. A black MP, Corporal Charles Baltimore, went into town to deal with the soldier’s arrest. The Houston police officer the Corporal was dealing with attacked him, and the Corporal and his men took off running. The police shot after them. Eventually, the police captured Corporal Baltimore and released him.
Unfortunately, before Corporal Baltimore got back to Camp Logan, rumors started circulating among the troops that the Corporal had been killed by the police. Another rumor circulated among the troops that a white mob was headed to Camp Logan. About 100 of the black troops decided to take the offensive, grabbed their rifles and headed into Houston. While marching into the city, 15 whites were killed by the troops. Two soldiers were shot by civilians (2 more soldiers were shot by ‘friendly fire.’) Eventually, the soldiers disbanded their march and returned to Camp Logan. The next morning, August 24, Houston declared a curfew. On the 25th, the entire battalion was sent back to New Mexico.
Over the next year, three court martials were held at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. A total of 118 soldiers were indicted for mutiny and riot. One hundred and ten soldiers were found guilty -- even though the identities of the soldiers that marched into Houston and the soldiers that stayed at Camp Logan couldn’t quite be determined. Nineteen of those found guilty were hanged and the other 63 received life sentences. Camp Logan continued training white soldiers until March 1919, when the camp was closed.
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Additional Waypoints:
- Entrance to Picnic Loop: N29° 45.875' W95° 26.409'
- Center of Picnic Area: N29° 45.741' W95° 26.212'
- Jogging Trail Start: N29° 46.587' W95° 26.049'
- Golf Clubhouse: N29° 46.394' W95° 25.983'
- Tennis Center: N29° 46.587' W95° 26.114'
- Evonne Franz Memorial Trail: N29° 46.384' W95° 25.909'
- Playground: N29° 46.242' W95° 25.718'
- Pool: N29° 46.211' W95° 25.750'
- Fitness Center: N29° 46.197' W95° 25.742'
- Baseball Field: N29° 46.633' W95° 26.044'
- Croquet Court: N29° 46.593' W95° 26.186'
- 1/4 Mile Running Track: N29° 46.634' W95° 26.129'
- Football Field: N29° 45.854' W95° 26.757'
- Volleyball Courts: N29° 45.912' W95° 26.522'
- Camp Logan Historical Marker: N29° 46.209' W95° 25.610'
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Mountain Bike Trailheads:
- N29° 45.876' W95° 26.482'
- N29° 45.902' W95° 26.713'
- N29° 45.793' W95° 25.669'
- N29° 45.992' W95° 26.893'
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Hiking Trailheads:
- N29° 45.564' W95° 26.031'
- N29° 45.560' W95° 26.113'
- N29° 45.658' W95° 26.300'
- N29° 45.992' W95° 26.893'
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Name: Memorial Park
Street Location: 6501 Memorial Drive
Local Municipality: City of Houston
State/Province, etc.: Texas
Country: USA
Web Site: [Web Link]
Memorial/Commemoration: World War I
Date Established: 1926
Picnic Facilities: Picnic Tables.
Recreational Facilities:
Mountain biking, hiking trails, football field, baseball field, jogging trail, tennis center, golf course, playground, croquet courts, volleyball courts, running track, pool, fitness center.
Monuments/Statues: No.
Art (murals/sculpture, etc.): Abstract sculpture in median of Memorial Drive.
Fountains: No.
Ponds/Lakes/Streams/Rivers/Beach: Buffalo Bayou.
Special Events: Bayou Arts Festival, every March.
Traditional Geocaches: Not listed
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Visit Instructions:
One photo of the park that is a different view from the one on the page, and give the date and description your visit.
Add any additional information that you may have about this park. A GPSr photo is NOT required.
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