A Walk In The Park -
| News - Life In A Railroad Town |
A Walk In the Park
Thursday May 14, 2009, the Xeriscape Garden was dedicated at Yoakum and Sixth Street in Kingsville. Professor Catherine Simpson, her students from Texas A&M University, the city of Kingsville and many volunteers have created another enjoyable park in our community. Now I am used to parks being named after people, so I had to look up the name of this garden. Xeriscape (zéerə skâyp): a trademark for a method of landscaping emphasizing water conservation by using drought-resistant plants. The paving blocks for the walkways in the garden are new, but the stonework around the edge of the garden is made from the broken up concrete of the old parking lot.
This corner has seen many interesting buildings over the years. Back in 1925 the Kingsville City Hall was located on the corner where the new park is now. The City Hall also housed the fire department and the public library. The old freight depot was next to the railroad tracks. The Casa Ricardo Hotel was on the west side of the tracks from the old City Hall.
Citizens of Kingsville have always enjoyed community parks and recreation areas. Probably the very first park was Caesar Park where the artesian well was located in 1904. When the track layers reached Kingsville at the beginning of February, 1904, they were greeted by the bubbling, gushing artesian well that was to supply water for the steam locomotives. As the community became established the citizens quickly turned that area into a park. They planted numerous different kinds of palm trees. It was occasionally called the Artesian Park or Palm Park.
Through the years folks have enjoyed many activities in their parks. Back in the good old days the “Band Boys” provided music in the park near Casa Ricardo once or twice a week during the spring and fall. All of Kingsville would come out and sit on the grass surrounding the bandstand.
The new Xeriscape Garden is going to be very enjoyable because it is close to the railroad tracks. It seems to touch Kingsville’s history by being in sight of the 1904 Kingsville Train Depot Museum and the Henrietta Memorial Center (the Old Ice House). It is just a short walk to the old Kleberg Bank building (now the Municipal Building) and the Ragland Mercantile Building (now the King Ranch Saddle Shop).
I envision myself sitting in the shade of the old rubber tree and watching the trains go by. Yes, there is still a lot of work to be done in the new park. Most of the plants are tiny, but they saved the old rubber tree that seems to stand approving of the Xeriscape Garden now surrounding it. This is a good time to invite y’all to visit this new park. After enjoying the many different plants and before you head for home, please stop by the 1904 Kingsville Train Depot Museum to see the surveyor’s map proposing how Kingsville would look.