What is Comey's 1913 Report To Park Commissioners
In 1910, Mayor Horace Baldwin Rice, established the city’s first park commission and appointed three men to the commission, attorney Edwin B. Park, an amateur Horticulturist; George H. Hermann, real estate investor; and William A. Wilson, the developer of Woodland Heights. In 1912, the three commissioners, at their own expense, hired landscape architect Arthur C. Comey to prepare a park report for the City. Comey’s plan released in 1913 titled, "Houston: Tentative Plans for its Development” not only provided plans for park development but included a plan for the City itself.
Hollywood Bayou - Connecting Neighborhoods
Recently a grassroots coalition of local organizations and residents, inspired by Comey’s report and mention of Hollywood Bayou “as a key natural and community resource” within that report, launched the Hollywood Trail Project. Its goal “to reconnect neighborhoods like Independence Heights, Woodland Heights, and Northside Village through an accessible trail that celebrates the area’s natural beauty and rich cultural history.”
According to the coalition, it is “backed by over one hundred community members and organizations” including the Friends of Woodland Park, the newly formed Friends of Moody Park, the Independence Heights Civic Association, and the White Oak Bayou Association.
Hollywood Bayou - Photo Courtesy Hollywood Trail Project Coalition
“This is a pivotal moment to come together as a community to shape the future of Little White Oak Bayou,” said Kelli Fereday, one of the project’s co-founders and FWP President. “The trail will offer much more than just a path; it will be a living history of the neighborhoods it passes through, from Independence Heights to Northside Village, Glen Park, and Woodland Heights. Interactive displays would share stories of the people, places, and events that have shaped these communities.”
The trail being proposed by the group would run along sections of the ecologically rich Little White Oak Bayou, where 180 species of birds have been documented, and intersects to a City of Houston Nature Preserve at the lower portion of the Bayou.
With the TXDoT North Highway Infrastructure Improvement Project (the I-45 North project) set to move forward, the group sees the development of the Hollywood Trail Project to be at a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to ensure the Hollywood Trail is included in the project’s planning, providing a vital green corridor, and preventing further fragmentation of neighborhoods.
The coalition continues to engage key stakeholders, including the City of Houston HPARD and District H, TXDoT, Harris County, the Greater Northside Management District, TIRZ 5 and TIRZ 21, and local civic organizations, to bring the project to fruition. For more information or to support the Hollywood Trail Project, visit hollywoodtrail.org.