PAVILION RESTORATION

THE HAMILTON PARK PAVILION RECEIVES $154,000

A bit of our neighborhood’s park history is being restored.

The City of Dallas received a $154,000 grant from Going Forward Inc. to rebuild the 1965 pavilion in Hamilton Park.

Work could begin as soon as this month on the pavilion, which originally was constructed of concrete in an angular, modern style. The shelter began decaying years ago and recently began falling to pieces.

Hamilton Park was built in 1957 on land given to the city by the Citizens Interracial Association, a nonprofit that was dedicated to fulfilling the housing needs of black Dallas residents before they were protected by law from housing discrimination.

The park is adjacent to the Hamilton Park neighborhood, which the association developed beginning in 1953 with 700 houses on 179 acres. The development was an effort to offer for-sale houses to black residents pushed out of their homes due to the expansion of Love Field and racially motivated bombings in South Dallas.

The Hoblitzelle Foundation loaned the association $216,872 to purchase the land, and the foundation itself took out $423,619 in loans from three Dallas banks to fund water and sewer lines, according to the Handbook of Texas Online.

The park was integrated from its beginning, at a time when most Dallas parks were segregated. It received updates in 1960 — a baseball diamond, tennis courts and a concrete area for basketball and volleyball.

Now the park is on the Cottonwood Creek Trail and in recent years has gained covered basketball courts. The new pavilion could be completed next year. —RACHEL STONE