M2L Associates is proud to celebrate MacGregor Park and our commitment to improving this Houston gem through a master-planned future. During our more than 25 years of projects throughout greater Houston and beyond, MacGregor Park stands as one of our proudest accomplishments. Here are five things to know about this park just south of downtown Houston and M2L’s ongoing role in its renovations.
1. A century of history and heritage. Namesake Henry MacGregor intended for the park to create a greenway connection to Hermann Park, 4 miles to the west, but his vision wasn’t established until after his death in 1923 when his widow eventually donated the land and money to realize his dreams. Today MacGregor Park is 83 acres of green spaces and recreational facilities bordered by Brays Bayou to the north, Old Spanish Trail to the south, Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. on the east and Calhoun Road on the west.
2. A heralded sports legacy. Its covered basketball court has gathered generations of inner-city hoopsters, and its baseball diamonds are still home to the Southwestern Athletic Conference’s Texas Southern University. But it’s the famed tennis courts that bring MacGregor Park to most people’s minds, even well outside of Houston. When John Wilkerson set up clinics to encourage Black children to try tennis at the park’s Homer Ford Tennis Center, he didn’t have any idea how successful his program would become. Two of his first prodigies were Zina Garrison and Lori McNeil, tennis champions and ambassadors for Houston who continue to give back to the park’s strong tennis legacy through the Zina Garrison Tennis Academy.
3. A rich tradition of music and art. The 1980s and Houston’s beginnings in the hip-hop era brought the park to a new generation and more ears outside of the city. Artists “The L.A. Rapper” and a Third Ward native named Tony Obi, who performs as Fat Tony, immortalized the park in their work, further cementing the park’s cultural relevance and musical significance. Today the park’s planners and leaders continue this rich cultural tradition with a steady stream of art and music festivals, parades, and concert series, from jazz and hip-hop performances to the SLAB car parade (short for “slow, loud and bangin’) and the newest addition, the Houston Art Bike Parade.
4. Still connecting parks and trails. Henry MacGregor’s original plan to connect green spaces remains firmly in place and is more important than ever. The Levi Vincent Perry Jr. Jogging Trail starts in MacGregor Park and runs up the bayou through Hermann Park, part of the 33.8-mile Brays Bayou Greenway Trail system that continues upstream past the Houston Medical Center and well west to the Southwest Freeway. More than just an outlet to the outdoors and better health and wellness, Houston’s bayou trails are essential elements of urban planning and flood control.
5. Our work continues. M2L Associates is leading an update to the 2016 master plan, with unprecedented community feedback that has included numerous opportunities for input and pop-up community gatherings. We can’t wait to unveil new improvements to MacGregor Park. With close collaboration between M2L and the project teams, the Houston Parks Board, the City of Houston, Friends of MacGregor Park, the MacGregor Park Conservancy, and other public agencies and community stakeholders, the best is yet to come as MacGregor Park looks forward to its centennial celebration.
How can you learn more about planned improvements at MacGregor Park and get involved with the park and trail systems? Click here to learn more or follow @M2LAssociates on social media for updates.