Residents can enjoy updates to Schweppe Park
A Texas Medical Center park created in the early 1980s recently received an update.
Katharine Randall Schweppe Park received several improvements.
Its entry plaza and walkways were redeveloped, new playground equipment and park furnishings were installed, trees were planted, and the irrigation system was updated.
The $582,121 improvement project was paid with city Park and Recreation Dedication Funds.
The department unveiled the improvements during a May 5 ribbon-cutting program.
Houston City Councilman Dwight Boykins pushed for the refurbishment project.
“This is a momentous occasion, and we are happy to be cutting the ribbon on this newly renovated park in the center of Houston’s Medical Center,” he said during the unveiling.
The park, 1801 El Paseo Road, was originally purchased with money from Dr. Irving Schweppe and his wife, Laura. The couple wanted to create a park in honor of their daughter, Katharine Schweppe.
Katharine Schweppe, a graduate of Kinkaid School and a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin, was 19 when she died in a car accident in 1979. According to the department, her parents wanted to create a park for children and for it to represent Montgomery County, Port Aransas, and the family ranch in Kendall County — places Katharine spent most of her life.
“It’s got Austin limestone from the Texas hill country and open areas that lend to that feel, even though it sits in Houston,” said Joe Turner, Parks and Recreation director.
The family also has ties to Houston’s Medical Center.
Dr. Schweppe, Turner said, had a “pretty amazing career” at the medical center.
The city received a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department grant matching the Schweppe family’s donation when the park land was purchased in the early 1980s.
Turner said the recent renovation project had been on the parks department’s to-do list for four or five years, but the funds were not available then.
“The playground was outdated, the plaza needed cleaning,” he said.
“It was a general cleanup and renovation. We wish we could do more.”
The new playground equipment, which includes swings, should last 15 to 20 years, Turner said.
The park serves a large community of apartments and housing for medical students.
“There are lots of grandparents with their grandkids at the park,” Turner said.
Schweppe attended the unveiling of the renovated park.
“My family and I are delighted to see this phase of the park completed,” he said.
Those visiting the park probably don’t know who it is named after.
Turner said a planned plaque will inform visitors about Katharine Schweppe.
The plaque, to be installed in the park’s plaza, is to feature a QR Code. Abbreviated from Quick Response Code, it is a type of barcode embedded with information and readable by smartphone programs. Visitors will be able to scan the code with their mobile phones to access information about Schweppe and see her picture.
“It should be up within a couple of months, at most,” Turner said.
The QR Code at Schweppe Park will be similar to codes the city utilizes on 91 municipal art pieces in 24 parks.
The codes act as a virtual tour guide to provide information about the artists behind the art pieces.
Turner said he is pushing for more QR Codes at city parks as a means of conveying the history of the public spaces.
The city’s parks department manages more than 37,859 acres of parkland and green space.
There are several parks named for those who have donated funds or property to create them.
One of the city’s most visited is Hermann Park, located on 445 acres and home to several institutions including the Houston Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theatre, the Houston Museum of Natural Science and the Hermann Park Golf Course.
The land was given to the city in 1914 by George H. Hermann, the wealthy businessman whose name also graces Memorial Hermann Hospital.
Turner said Houston’s park system has always been supported by Houstonians who have given generously to create parks such as Hermann Park and Schweppe Park.
“We hope that Katharine Randall Schweppe Park has fulfilled the family’s original vision and that the sight of so many happy families enjoying this park brings them joy,” said Turner during last month’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.