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Sam Houston Park… Houston’s First Park

by Jill Jarvis Leave a Comment

Church at Sam Houston Park
Sam Houston Park is Houston’s oldest park. It is located just behind City Hall in Downtown and is a huge piece of green space in the middle of skyscrapers.

Sam Houston Park has many historic houses and buildings, a pond, ducks, a bridge, swings and lots of room to run. Some parking is free on the street, but be sure to check the signs before leaving your car.

City Hall from Sam Houston Park

My family and I visited and these are my take-aways:

  1. This is an awesome park.
  2. I’m getting our next family pictures taken here.
  3. More people should be here.

San Felipe Cottage at Sam Houston Park

Historic Houses at Sam Houston Park:

Sam Houston Park is really great. It is huge with a lot of different things to do. My kids ran to each of the houses and I listened to the audio tour on my cell phone (by following instructions on the signs).

In front of the houses, a couple was taking wedding pictures. That’s when it hit me that this is a great place for pictures. There are neat old houses with wrap-around porches, a quaint little church and giant skyscrapers in the background. We are coming here for our next round of family photos.

Swinging at Sam Houston Park

Room to Run at Sam Houston Park:

After touring the houses, we ran down to the pond, between the ducks and over the bridge. And then we ran back up to the swings.

While we were playing, my son exclaimed that we had Houston all to our selves. It was true. Except for the bride and groom and a couple of other people, we had the park to ourselves.

Privacy/Security:

The park does slope down from the street, which is always a little worrisome for me. I like to have a lot of eyes on public spaces, for safety, but this park has very little pedestrian traffic.

With such a great space, I wonder why it’s not more like an Old Town in San Diego or have a full calendar of events like Discovery Green. Discovery Green is just on the other side of Downtown and is packed with families every weekend. Someday I hope the same is true for Sam Houston Park!

Restrooms:

The park does not have bathrooms, but it is right next to the Heritage Society which is open part of the week. The park is also close to the Central Library (which has restrooms).

Overall I love this park. It’s a great space right in Downtown Houston. I’ll keep going and hope some of you come and help keep an eye on the public space with me. Try to go when the Heritage Society is open so you can see this too!

Sam Houston Park:

Address:  1000 Bagby St, Houston, TX ‎


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More Houston Parks:

Filed Under: All, Downtown Houston, Parks, Things to do January 3, 2014

About Jill Jarvis

Jill Jarvis is the owner of JillBJarvis.com, a BigKidSmallCity.com and Things to Do in Houston, with Kids, blog!

She is the mom of 4 and started the website years ago... when she was tired of constantly cleaning up the same mess in the family room.

Another mom showed her that you could just go do fun things in Houston, without hours of planning.

This inspired the blog and changed everything about how she enjoyed life in Houston, with kids!

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jill-jarvis-bigkidsmallcity-circle-300 Welcome!  JillBJarvis.com is the go-to blog for things to do in Houston with kids!  It is upbeat and dedicated to making our big city feel small.   START HERE!    

On this website you will find a full list of Houston weekly events, things to do around the city, travel ideas and resources for parents.

I know just what it’s like to be overwhelmed by work, life and family. I spent a lot of years traveling for work, missing big milestones for my kids and feeling bad about everything.

I started this website to make a list of all the events happening around Houston and then pick one to enjoy with my kids. And instead of thinking of all the things I was missing, I started to enjoy the things we were doing together.

If you are a parent that is feeling overwhelmed by all the things you could be doing in Houston… please just use our weekly lists and daily posts as suggestions. Pick one thing to do with your family and intentionally ignore the rest!

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