City hopes upgrades return Jones Park to glory days

Apr 06, 2023

An architect’s rendering shows improvements that will be made to Midtown’s Jones Park as part of the city’s Places & Spaces plan. The first wave of projects will likely start in 2023, according to Temple City Manager Brynn Myers.

DAVID STONE | OUR TOWN TEMPLE

A Midtown neighborhood park known in the past as a haven for drug dealers, addicts and prostitutes, and in recent years as a gathering spot for the city’s homeless population, will soon become much more family friendly.

Jones Park, nestled between avenues H and G, and 23rd and 19th streets, has been earmarked for massive upgrades as part of the city’s $75 million Places & Spaces capital improvement plan that will fund dozens of upgrades at 33 Temple parks through 2027.

The first projects of the initiative were given the green light Thursday by Temple City Council.

Perhaps the biggest improvement to Jones Park will be a splash pad and an adjacent playground.

“The splash pad will help bring families to the park,” said Brynn Myers, Temple’s city manager. “But there will be many more improvements. We are adding four additional picnic pavilions, a covered playground, a covered basketball court, dog waste stations, new landscaping and new park signage.”

Beginning as early as 2024, Jones Park and other Temple recreational facilities will be patrolled by Temple Park Rangers, as well as city police.

“The Park Rangers program will provide additional security and increase public safety at Temple parks and trails,” Myers said. “We want to provide a dedicated presence at our parks to make sure everyone knows and follows expectations and guidelines. We want our recreational areas to be safe.”

Jones Park is occasionally home to revivals and impromptu religious services geared toward the Temple residents who are experiencing homelessness.

The park was named in honor of the late W. Goodrich Jones, the father of the Texas forest agency. Jones settled in Temple in 1888 with the intention of opening a bank. He was appalled by the lack of trees in the small railroad town and immediately made it his goal to encourage tree planting in both Temple and surrounding areas. He even hauled trees from the banks of the Leon and Lampasas rivers for planting in Temple.

In May 1915, Jones offered land for a city park on Avenue H, a main thoroughfare in Temple. City Council wasted no time, and by June 9, an ordinance accepting the park site was passed. The ordinance provided that the City Council and its successors provide for the upkeep of the park and that no buildings would be constructed on the site other than those designed for park use.

Back then, Jones Park was extremely family friendly and weekly concerts were held on a wooden bandstand.