Established in 1924, Houston’s Memorial Park was named to honor the 70,000 soldiers who served at Camp Logan, a U.S. Army training camp during World War I (WWI). The Park’s creation was driven by a campaign from Houstonians, led by Ilona B. Benda, Ima Hogg and Catharine Mary Emmott, to “remember the boys” by acquiring the site and transforming it into a public park. Will and Mike Hogg, with minority owner Henry Stude, bought two tracts of the former Camp Logan land and sold the acreage to the City of Houston at cost. In May 1924, the City officially established Memorial Park in memory of the soldiers. Today, approximately 1,500 acres of the original 7,600-acre training camp comprise Memorial Park.

Now, more than a century later, Memorial Groves will honor all who contributed to the war effort at Camp Logan. This includes those who trained there, such as the U.S. Army’s 370th Infantry Regiment and the Cavalry, the local organizations that participated in camp life, like the YMCA, as well as the 24th Infantry Regiment, who oversaw construction of the camp.

Accelerated by generous support from Kinder Foundation ($10 million), John L. Nau III ($7.5 million), Brown Foundation ($7.5 million), and the Jerold B. Katz Foundation ($7.5 million), this $50.5 million project is the latest of several transformative improvements envisioned by the Memorial Park Master Plan for the revitalization of Houston’s largest urban greenspace.

Through their design for Memorial Groves, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects will create a place-based, interactive experience that not only honors Houston’s World War I history but also serves everyday park users.

Memorial Groves is located on a narrow tract within Memorial Park running north to south primarily between the Union Pacific rail line and West Memorial Loop Drive. This site was chosen because it holds the greatest number of archaeological remains from Camp Logan structures within the Park, providing an opportunity to convey the scale and scope of Camp Logan’s footprint as well as its legacy.

Visitors will learn about the lives and daily routines of the camp’s soldiers as they view the unearthed foundations of camp buildings that lie between two important native habitats: an existing prairie, which will be protected and preserved, and a twenty-acre expanse of savanna habitat that will be restored as part of the project.

A Living Memorial

The design of Memorial Groves seeks to create a living remembrance: a forest of nearly 3,000 bald cypress trees planted in a rigorous grid. Symbolizing soldiers standing in formation, the grid of trees will form long lines, their straight columnar trunks creating tall cathedral-like spaces over time.

Covering twenty continuous acres along both sides of West Memorial Loop Drive, interrupted only by the regular rhythm of the open lawns marking Camp Logan’s historic streets, the groves of trees will provide a palpable sense of the scale of Camp Logan where 70,000 soldiers trained for war.

As the bald cypress change colors with the seasons, visitors immersed within the groves, whether walking its paths or driving along Memorial Loop Drive, will be reminded of the soldiers and their sacrifice, while being inspired by the beauty of the natural cycles of life and renewal.

A new Visitor Center designed by Moody Nolan will anchor the north end of Memorial Groves and will include offices for Memorial Park Conservancy. At the south end, a picnic pavilion, lawn area and playground will become a popular destination for families. Both areas will include new parking and restrooms.

Interpretive features, signage, and exhibits distributed throughout the Memorial Groves landscape and Visitor Center will engage both visitors and everyday Park users with the history of Camp Logan and the stories of individual soldiers who trained there. The center will also tell the stories of those who supported the camp, from the laborers who built the camp to the soldiers of the 24th Infantry Regiment who guarded its construction.

Enriching the Park User Experience

As with all other Master Plan projects, Memorial Groves will introduce new spaces for recreation and fitness, including trails for walking and cycling, adult workout areas, open lawns for play and picnicking, and a large playground with an adjacent covered pavilion. The playground will create a place where children can play and explore history simultaneously through age-appropriate themes animating a variety of play structures with elements of Camp life.

The playground will offer a one-of-a-kind experience where all ages and abilities can engage directly with the history of the Park through a series of unique play features, detailed by Earthscape, a custom playground company. Kids can climb up and into oversized soldiers’ helmets, army crates, and an enormous loaf of ‘hard bread’ each inscribed with insignias from WWI era. Another series of features includes a large bugle that appears to have blown over the adjacent log scramble and doubles as a talk tube for audio play. The playground is located near the new picnic pavilion and restroom, convenient to the new south parking lot, and nestled within existing trees for shade and comfort.

Seymour Lieberman Trail Enhancements

Significant enhancements will be made to (SLT) within the Memorial Groves project area, as was done in the Eastern Glades and Land Bridge projects. Approximately .7 miles (3,600 ft.) of the trail will be shifted further from West Memorial Loop Drive allowing Groves trees to be planted between the trail and the road. As the trees grow in, the result will be a more scenic and shaded route along the SLT, with the Camp Logan Historic Street Lawns extending across the road at regular intervals providing new grassy areas along the trail for gathering, stretching or resting adjacent to new fitness stations.

Memorial Groves Visitor Center

The new visitor center will anchor the primary entrance to the memorial landscape and will educate visitors on the story of WWI, Camp Logan and Memorial Groves. Designed by Moody Nolan, the structure creates a generous breezeway between the main exhibit space and new MPC offices, providing a welcoming threshold to the Groves beyond. The architectural materials and forms are shaped by the local climate, the Park’s architectural traditions, and a desire to bring in natural light and views to the landscape, allowing visitors to feel part of the environment indoors and out. Interpretive design and content of the interior space is spearheaded by Gallagher & Associates, in collaboration with project design lead Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBW). New Camp Logan historic markers at select entry points to Memorial Groves and the Park will be provided by Texas Historical Commission and included in THC’s official statewide marker database.

Fulfilling the Vision of the Park’s Founders

When completed, Memorial Groves will be a unique, engaging and interactive memorial landscape connecting visitors to the diverse, complex, and untold history of Camp Logan; the role of Houston in WWI; and the lives and sacrifices of the soldiers who trained there. All will understand why the Park is fittingly named Memorial Park.

Construction is slated to begin in 2026, with project completion late 2027.