The City of Houston’s Elmer & Estella Bridges Memorial Park is now ready for public use.
The 1.88-acre tract the park occupies is located at West Route 17 and Lilly Avenue. It was donated to the city in late 2022 by Springfield residents Marvin and Audrey Bridges, who are both retired educators and graduates of Houston High School.
The park is encircled by a cement walkway equipped with three metal benches and containers of plastic bags for use by dog owners. Inside the walkway are two 12-foot by 12-foot concrete chessboards with 18-inch by 18-inch squares. Houston Parks and Recreation Department director Robbie Mortensen said large plastic chess pieces will be available for use in the future.
Mortensen said plans for the park include the addition of a pavilion and picnic tables (hopefully in 2026) and a community flowerbed built with rocks from the old house that used to be on the property and was demolished.
Community members are encouraged to send recommendations for other improvements to the park to rmortensen@houstonmo.org or bring ideas to parks board meetings.
It’s good to see this corner looking nice and cleaned up finally. That Little Rock house was certainly ready to be repurposed into flower beds. We will be anxious to see those soon 👍