REMEMBER THIS BEFORE THERE WAS A RINGGOLD PARK?

                                                                                                                                        Courtesy Photo

By Gene Fernandez
Special to El Rrun-Rrun

The process of incorporating 'Ringgold Park" into the Brownsville public park system formally began June 16, 1927.

The purchase of the parcel that was to become a park was transacted on that date. However, the prevailing thought at the time throughout this country was to favor the creation of parks and recreational areas and their integration into our social order.

Basically, eight city squares (double-sided city blocks) of land out of the Original Townsite Acre Block 5 were purchased by Mayor A.B. Cole's administration from developer Lon C, Hill by way of Pauline J. Wells, widow of the early Brownsville power broker James B. Wells. A covenant in the deed transfer stipulated that "all the property herein conveyed for park and other municipal purposes."

The specific zone which encompasses the park area is dominated by the presence of what is known as Town Resaca, which wraps around the subject peninsula of the property. In its original form the terrain was somewhat erratic in topography, due to the effect of eons of water flow into this delta range.

Little is known about the early land use in this sector other than periodic mentioning of its having had brick making and sand pit operations on it, which actually created more radical land features to the landscape. By the time of its purchase the city elements, those early vestiges of use had long been abandoned, and by 1929, when actual construction began to transform the topography, mention was made of the useful incorporation of certain sand pits in the building of sunken garden pools.

A word-of-mouth account that was still circulating in the 1950s revealed that the adjacent tract (where Cummings Middle School has long been located) was utilized as a landfill at some point after the cessation of mining operations taking advantage of the pits that had been created.

The very earliest accounts of the condition of the landscape over this park are prior to its usage as such revealed a lush, dense cover of native chaparral that skirted the entire peninsula. In the evolution of the park's development the native brush was incorporated into the overall design as an attractive feature, capitalizing on the natural aspect.

Great efforts were made throughout the end of the 1920s and into the 1930s to supplement this natural growth with large-scale plantings of ornamental shrubs such as poinsettias and bougainvilleas, but the retention level was low, due to the ravages of periodic droughts and freezes over the decades. As a result of those trying forces of nature, none of these beautification efforts have survived into modern times. In particular, the droughts of the 1940s and the decade-long drought of the 1960s reduced all these efforts to naught.

During the period of the Great Depression an abundance eff labor efforts by the Works Progress Administration and the National Youth Administration were directed toward land clearing, landscaping and other missions at the park, showing the community's concern for its development. Ringgold Park actually enjoyed a favorite status by the local citizenry over the other parks that had been developed from the time of the turn-of-the-century up until WWII such as Filmore (Lincoln) Park, Resaca Park, Washington Park, and the Depot and Chamber of Commerce Park.

Throughout the Depression, newspapers bore frequent mention of picnics, Easter egg hunts, social receptions, and sporting events centering on Ringgold.

The year 1933 witnessed some strange visitors entering the park. Being that "Snakeville" operated by William Abraham "Snake King" Lieberman, was situated on the rial siding where the modern-day Palm Village shopping center was located, the terrible hurricane that year broke open the majority of the animal compounds of that facility and wild creatures of all kinds gravitated to much more natural conditions as existed on Ringgold Park.

Up until the early 1960s, Yucatan Black Iguanas were frequently seen running through the park along the roof gutters of Cummings Junior High.

At a point in 1939, Hubert Hudson, Sr., extended an offer through the Camber of Commerce in a philanthropic gesture, to pay for the construction of a "Community Center" on these grounds. This was a substantial building with all the latest amenities. This proposal was shot down by Mayor Robert Runyon on the basis that it would attract dancing and music events to a park that he wanted to feature more of an approach to nature.

The park did not change much at all in its appearance and infrastructure from the 1930s up to the 1950s. In 1954 the Brownsville School System built Cummings Junior High School on the adjacent tract and there was a slight increase in facilities offerings at that time. The major addition to be added in 1955 was the Sams Memorial Pool, spurring the building of picnicking accommodations and an area for shuffleboard courts.

This was followed by another contribution from the Sams Foundation in the form of the Camile Community Theater in 1965.

It was at some point in the 1970s that the name change took place to shift from the previously-known Ringgold park to the new Dean porter Park.

The mid-1970s witnessed a major revamping of the public BarB-Q facilities and open-door pavilions, but there was no significant improvement to the overall grounds beyond that for the following years until the efforts of an all-volunteer committee began organizing the Dean porter Renovation movement, which culminated (from the mid-1990s through about 2005) in what we now possess as an $19 million asset for the City of Brownsville, its residents and visitors.