Wooldridge Park
Guadalupe St., Austin, TXWooldridge Park is unique as the only public square in Austin to have retained its original function since its establishment more than one hundred thirty years ago. When the first city plans were drawn in 1840, four such squares were included. The other three underwent various uses over time, hosting parking lots, a fire station, a church, a museum, and businesses. Wooldridge Park alone has remained an essential element of Austin's outdoor social, musical, and political life. Its bandstand, the only one extant of the three built in the oldest section of the city, is a fine example of the Classical Revival style employed for a small non-residential structure.
The city planner in 1840 was Judge Edwin Waller, appointed for that purpose by the President of the Texas Republic Mirabeau B. Lamar. The area he laid out was bounded by what are now Town Lake and Martin Luther King Blvd., and Waller and Shoal Creeks. He set aside four public squares in each of the four quadrants of the city, of which Wooldridge Park is the northwesterly one. The southwest square was recently reclaimed from a parking lot as Republic Square. However, unnaturally high earth berms and frail vegetation betray its former existence. The other two squares are occupied by structures.
From 1840 until 1900 the park's slopes enclosed a wet weather lake, fed by a seasonal spring, which was four feet deep, fifty feet wide, and three hundred feet long when full. In 1900 an 18 inch culvert was installed to keep the area permanently drained. Following this improvement, the park was neglected for several years. Then in 1909, Mayor Wooldridge caused the park to be reclaimed, preserving trees, hauling in landfill and sod, landscaping, and building the bandstand, spanning the shallow gully formed by the spring fed brook. In 1917 the sidewalk was added.
The Wooldridge Park bandstand is situated in the middle of a city block designated as a park, unlike the other two, no longer in situ. One was in the boulevard of old East Avenue, now Interstate 35, on the north end, in the 1800 block; the other was on the south end of the same street between First and Willow. The north bandstand was similar in plan to the one in Wooldridge Park, but more elaborate in detail. The south bandstand was gazebo-like, hexagonal in plan.
The man who realized the square's intended use. Mayor Wooldridge, was prominent in many local and state affairs, such as bringing in the Austin and Northwestern Railroad, building the first Colorado River dam in the city, building the artificial moonlight towers, and founding the Austin public school system. He served as mayor from 1909 to 1919.
Many Texas politicians and almost all of Texas' governors used the Wooldridge Park bandstand for public addresses. The list of speakers includes President Lyndon Johnson, Governors Allan Shivers, Pat Neff, Dan Moody, Jimmy Allred, Jim Ferguson, and W. Lee 0'Daniel. The current Austin mayor, Carole McClellan, chose this site for her inaugural ceremonies. The bandstand is also used as a "playscape" and as a stage for performing arts presentations, such as Sunday concerts. The park's location, between the main public library and the county courthouse, make it a favorite spot for conversation, poetry readings, studying, and small weddings.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.