Memorial Groves

Memorial Groves highlights the important cultural history of Memorial Park. While the Park is named after those who trained at Camp Logan and fought in World War I, Memorial Groves extends this tribute and tell the stories of all individuals who contributed to the war effort at Camp Logan. This includes not only the 70,000 soldiers who underwent training at the camp, such as the U.S Army’s 370th Infantry Regiment and the Calvary, but also those who provided support for the camp, including the 24th Infantry Regiment.

In addition to honoring those who served, Memorial Groves was adopted as part of the 2015 Memorial Park Master Plan to educate, inform and foster dialogue about the shared history of our nation, our city and Memorial Park. In areas just east of the railroad tracks with the highest number of Camp Logan archeological remnants, Memorial Groves will feature large groves of trees evoking the scale and of organization of Camp Logan, surrounded by extant healthy native forested areas and smaller stands of trees. The existing concrete remains of Camp Logan structures will be revealed, and spaces for reflection and discourse will be created. The plan also includes the addition of picnic spots, shelters, parking and restrooms.

On November 13, 2023, the U.S. Army made a historic announcement regarding the 24th Infantry Regiment, an all-Black member regiment who were also Buffalo Soldiers. These soldiers were brought to Houston to guard Camp Logan during its construction. Of the more than 600 men of the 24th Regiment, 110 were convicted and court-martialed in the wake of what was previously known as the “Houston Mutiny and Riots” of August 23, 1917. Many were sentenced to life in prison, and 19 were executed. However, on November 13, 2023, the U.S. Army announced it had erred in the convictions and punishment of these soldiers, attributing this to racism. The Army announced honorable discharges for the 110 convicted soldiers, granted survivor benefits to their descendants, and revealed plans to properly memorialize these soldiers. This announcement opened a new chapter in history for the U.S. Military, Houston, and Memorial Park. It also represents a significant development in terms of U.S. Civil Rights.

Memorial Groves is among a subset of accelerated projects of the Memorial Park Master Plan made possible by the Ten-Year Plan. The Master Plan and its accelerated Ten-Year Plan projects together promote connectivity and resiliency, restore damaged ecologies to provide higher function for the Park and city, help manage storm water, provide new cultural and recreational amenities, and tell the historical narratives of the people and the land through landscape design. Currently, Memorial Groves is in the pre-design research and planning phase led by Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects and must be completed by 2028 per the Ten-Year Plan. Further research and an evaluative site assessment is underway and will inform project design.

Memorial Park Conservancy is delivering the Ten-Year Plan projects with its project partners: Houston Parks and Recreation Department, Uptown Houston, and the Kinder Foundation. Other completed Ten-Year Plan projects include the 100-acre Clay Family Eastern Glades (opened July 2020); the Sports Complex (opened October 2020); a one-mile segment of the Seymour Lieberman Trail that is now off of Memorial Drive and is an exciting run through the trees and over ravines (opened October 2022); the 100-acre Kinder Land Bridge and Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Prairie (opened February 2023); and the Running Complex (opened November 2023).