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Chapter Six: Other Plans: 1962–1989
- Texas A&M University Press
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work with the consultants. This included representatives from ten agencies and institutions: the Houston Zoological Society, the Municipal Arts Commission, the Miller Theatre Advisory Council, the Garden Center Advisory Board, the Houston Museum of Natural Science, the Texas Medical Center, Rice University, the Children’s Museum, and the City of Houston’s Traffic and Transportation and Parks and Recreation departments. The fledgling Children’s Museum was included because it planned to locate a toy museum in Hermann Park.2 The 1972 master plan correctly concluded: “serious environmental damage will occur in Hermann Park unless several major problems are solved.”3 Park attendance in 1972 was estimated at three million people, and over three million cars drove through the park, with half of those vehicles stopping and parking in the park. Projections forecast over four-and-a-half million visitors by 1980 and more than six million by 1990. “It is apparent from the analysis that Hermann Park will not be able to function past 1980, even with the recommended improvements unless the demand is accommodated by other major urban parks.”4 Problems related to such heavy use were identified and ranked by priority : (1) parking, circulation, access, and egress; (2) drainage; (3) security and control; (4) park deterioration; (5) utilities; (6) inefficient park usage. These problems were addressed through recommendations that included a new circulation and parking system, relocating the Garden Center to Memorial Park, improving and expanding of the Museum of Natural Science, and installing a new water sculpture and pedestrian mall (to be achieved by filling in the reflection pool). Other suggestions included development of new playgrounds, construction of a toy museum , expanding picnic facilities, upgrading the zoo in Hermann Park A fter Herbert Hare’s death in 1962, most activity in Hermann Park was limited to specific institutions: the Hermann Park Zoo, Miller Outdoor Theatre, and the Museum of Natural Science. Routine park maintenance continued but was not sufficient to keep the park and its greenery in good shape. Despite the straightening and concrete channeling of Brays Bayou, drainage in the park was not improved. The City of Houston was not unmindful of the needs in Hermann Park. In 1970 W. G. Scheibe, Parks and Recreation director , proposed to double the size of the zoo and fence its entire perimeter . He wanted a new golf clubhouse, authorization for a new road through the park, new parking lots, and expanded picnicking facilities. The city council turned down Scheibe’s request because there were no cost estimates attached to his proposal. However, they did approve hiring a consultant to come up with a new master plan for Hermann Park. Mayor Louie Welch, revealing his views on Hermann Park, said that he thought it was unfair to the majority of park users that one-half of the park was given over to three or four thousand golfers.1 Welch did not actually propose eliminating the golf course, but he intimated that this could be a solution to overuse in other park areas. LAN/Cummins Plan Two engineering firms, Lockwood Andrews and Newnam Inc. (LAN) and James A. Cummins Inc., along with the park and recreational planning firm McFadzean, Everly and Assoc. of Winnetka, Illinois, were retained by the City of Houston to conduct studies, compile statistics, and draw up a master plan based on a prioritized list of improvements. The Hermann Park Advisory Council was appointed by the mayor to CHAPTER SIX Other Plans 1962–1989 Serious environmental damage will occur in Hermann Park unless several major problems are solved. —LAN/Cummins Master Plan, 1972 88 Chapter Six purposes. In a series of annotated maps and plans, LAN and Cummins outlined their proposals. The Houston Post reported in July 1972 on these recommendations, including construction of an aquarium on the lake shore in front of the zoo with funds from the bequest of Herbert Kipp. A toy museum was proposed for unused land southeast of North MacGregor Way that would be funded by the nonprofit Children’s Museum Inc.6 Director Scheibe said that the plan would cause clearing of some trees but that trees grow fast in Houston and could be replaced with trees at other locations. After this master plan was formally accepted by the city council in 1973, funding, and therefore construction, was slow in coming. It was not until 1978 that $4.5 million was allocated for drainage improvements , new parking lots, and construction of a two-way, north-south street through...