Friends of Woodland Park

MISSION STATEMENT - The Friends of Woodland Park, Inc. is dedicated to preserving and improving Woodland Park's natural habitat along with its unique historical significance to the City of Houston, and to providing for the enjoyment and education of all who visit

Highland Park first opened in 1903 as a destination park to encourage weekend ridership on the local trolley. The park name was changed to San Jacinto Park in 1908 and in 1911 the park was purchased by the City of Houston. At the request of the neighborhood the park was renamed Woodland Park in 1914. Use of the park slowly declined and was on a possible closure list in the mid 2000s.

The Friends of Woodland Park, an all-volunteer 501c3 organization, was incorporated in 2010 by a group of 4 residents in the Woodland Heights who saw potential for renewing Woodland Park as one of the few remaining natural, intact, riparian spaces in the city. The leadership of the group has expanded to manage park enhancements and to organize and offer additional activities.

Many clean up days are scheduled throughout the year to remove trash from the nature preserve consisting of tires, shopping cards, mattresses, and an overwhelming amount of plastic bottles and one-time use plastic bags.

An annual family day is held in the spring to thank the surrounding neighborhood for their support of our programs in the park. Numerous volunteers are needed to help with the setup and tear down, plus serve free hot dogs and root beer floats.

A free evening of music is held several times during the year to continue a long ago tradition of music in the park.

The group hosts in the Spring all of the first grade classes at Travis Elementary School for a day of outdoor classes.

Fundraising efforts resulted in the installation of a three-part sculpture entitled Firefly Field by Dylan Conner and a playscape entitled Woody, a Red-Eared Slider Turtle, by the same artist.

Guidance was provided to several Girl Scout troops who created a pollinator garden at the community center as well as a Boy Scout Eagle candidate project who replanted the garden surrounding the Firefly Field sculpture.

Future projects include new playground equipment, a split rail fence defining the edge of the nature preserve and the creation of a trail from Woodland Park to Moody Park and Hollywood Cemetery.

FWP continues to work to ensure that Woodland Park thrives so that our community also thrives and our history and natural place endures.