NOTE: This is an adaptation of an article written for the Northwest Hills Civic Association (NWACA) newsletter.
The NWACA neighborhood has just one Travis County Park: Allen Park at 6413 Westside Drive. And, Allen Park was the first Travis County Park inside the Austin City Limits. It is a little known jewel of a park in the NWACA neighborhood; let’s look at the story of Allen Park.
From the Travis County Parks website:
“Allen Park is a 10-acre park consisting of a limestone plateau covered by a Juniper and Oak woodland interspersed with small, semi-open grassland areas. It is mainly used for low density recreational activities such as picnicking and hiking. The park offers a natural setting with panoramic views of the city to the east. The neighborhood church uses the park annually for Easter sunrise services.”
The park is technically known as the George W. Allen Memorial Park. George W. Allen was born in Jasper, Georgia in 1869. He came to Texas at age 15. As a lawyer, he moved to Austin in 1891 where he lived until his death in 1911. His many accolades as a lawyer in Austin included Assistant City Attorney. At his death the news reported the Bar Association, at a special meeting, adopted a resolution of "Respect and Memory" for George W. Allen.
The story now moves ahead a few years. Wilbur Price Allen (1879-1956) was George’s cousin. Wilbur graduated from U.T. Law School, and was on the U.T. Boards of Regents in 1917. At various times in his career he served as director of the American National Bank in Austin, national president of Sigma Chi Fraternity, president of the Austin Baseball Club, and president of the Texas League.
Without doing a deed dive on county deeds, apparently after George W. Allen’s death, Wilbur Price Allen inherited or acquired property part of which Wilbur Price in 1945 sold to Travis County for use as a quarry for caliche, gravel and rock. Today the east side of the park at 6110 Balcones Dr. has a gate that opens on to what looks like remnants of part of the quarry. The deed stipulated that after the county was done mining the property it would be dedicated as a park for public use.
The story again moves forward a few years to 1977, and Wilbur Price’s son, Wilbur George Allen, entered dialogue with Travis County about the property becoming a park. And so it was that Sunday, May 1st, 1978 Allen Park had its grand opening ceremony cosponsored in part by the Northwest Austin Civic Association. In attendance were Congressman J.J. (Jake) Pickle, Precinct 2 Commissioner Bob Honts, and U.T. football greats Earl Campbell and Brad Shearer.
The Parks history was not without a few hiccups. In 1996 the park had apparently become rundown to the point where the county was considering abandonment. The heirs of George W. Allen, likely led by Wilbur George Allen, concurred that if the park could not be maintained it should be closed or moved. Luckily that did not happen, issues were addressed, and today Allen Park remains a largely unknown jewel in our neighborhood.[1]
Sources; Read More
Funeral Of G. W. Allen: Last Sad Rites Over Body Of Deceased Lawyer, The Austin Statesman, Jun 22, 1911
George W. Allen Dead: Prominent Lawyer Of This City Passes Away, The Austin Statesman, Jun 21, 1911
U.T. Board of Regents, William Price Allen, https://www.utsystem.edu/board-of-regents/former-regents/wilbur-price-allen
Wilbur Allen Funeral Dated On Saturday, The Austin Statesman, Aug 3, 1956
Travis County Archives, memos re: Allen Park, 1977
County Opens Park. The Austin American Statesman, May 2, 1978
Allen Park Opening. Austin American-Statesman, 27 Apr 1978, Thu, Page 15
Notice of Proposed Abandonment. Austin American-Statesman, 29 Sep 1996, Sun, Page 29
County Seeks to Move Allen Park. Austin American-Statesman, 28 Aug 1996, Wed, Page 18
[1] Thanks to Christy Costlow and Charles Bergh with Travis County Archives and Travis County Parks for help researching this article.
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