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United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas 5. Classification Ownership of Property: Public/local Category of Property: District Number of Resources within Property Contributing Noncontributing 1 3 4 0 8 buildings sites structures objects total 1 0 6 0 7 Number of contributing resources previously listed in the National Register: 0 6. Function or Use Historic Functions: RECREATION AND CULTURE: Outdoor recreation, Sports facility LANDSCAPE: Park Current Functions: RECREATION AND CULTURE: Outdoor recreation, Sports facility, Music facility LANDSCAPE: Park 7. Description Architectural Classification: No Style Principal Exterior Materials: Concrete, brick, metal/steel Narrative Description: See continuation sheets 7 through 11 Page 2 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas 8. Statement of Significance Applicable National Register Criteria our history. x A Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of B Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. C Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work of a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction. D Property has yielded or is likely to yield information important in prehistory or history. Criteria Considerations: N/A Areas of Significance: Ethnic Heritage-Hispanic (Mexican); Recreation/Entertainment; Social History Period of Significance: 1931-1973 Significant Dates: 1931, 1933, 1941, 1973 Significant Person (only if criterion b is marked): N/A Cultural Affiliation (only if criterion d is marked): N/A Architect/Builder: CCC/NYA, Austin Parks and Recreation Department, neighborhood volunteers Narrative Statement of Significance: See continuation sheets 12-24 9. Major Bibliographic References Bibliography See continuation sheets 25-27 Previous documentation on file (NPS): _ preliminary determination of individual listing (36 CFR 67) has been requested. _ previously listed in the National Register _ previously determined eligible by the National Register _ designated a National Historic Landmark _ recorded by Historic American Buildings Survey # _ recorded by Historic American Engineering Record # Primary location of additional data: _ State historic preservation office (Texas Historical Commission, Austin) _ Other state agency _ Federal agency X Local government (Parks and Recreation Department Annex) _ University X Other -- Specify Repository: Austin History Center Historic Resources Survey Number (if assigned): N/A Page 3  United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas 10. Geographical Data Acreage of Property: approximately 15 acres Coordinates Datum: NAD83 1. 30.263330° -97.712389° 2. 30.262193° -97.708864° 3. 30.261077° -97.709220° 4. 30.261566° -97.710617° 5. 30.260896° -97.710938° 6. 30.261873° -97.713223° Verbal Boundary Description: Parque Zaragoza is bounded by one- and two-story residences to the north, North Pleasant Valley Road to the east, restaurant and retail buildings to the southeast, Gonzales Street to the south, and Pedernales Street to the west. The nominated property is identified by the Travis CAD as two parcels: Property192207 (ALL OF OLT 24 DIVISION A), and Property 192208 (6AC OF OLT 25 DIVISION A), with nominated parcel lines extending to street curbing. Boundary Justification: The boundary includes all property historically associated with Parque Zaragoza since its acquisition by the city of Austin in 1931, as well as an adjacent lot with associated historic use, officially annexed by the city for park use in 1970. 11. Form Prepared By Name/title: Kalan Contreras, based in part on draft nominations by Andrew Leith and Vangie Cheryl Ulila Organization: City of Austin Historic Preservation Office Street & number: P.O. Box 1088 City or Town: Austin, Texas 78767 Email: kalan.contreras@austintexas.gov Telephone: 512-974-2727 Date: Jun. 24, 2021 Additional Documentation Maps: See continuation sheets 28-30 Additional items: See continuation sheets 31-62 Photographs: See continuation sheets 63-80 Page 4 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photographs Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photographed March 2022 by Gregory Smith Photo 1 Bathhouse and Pool Camera facing east Photo 2 Bathhouse entrances Camera facing east Photo 3 Bathhouse west arched entrance Camera facing east Photo 4 Bathhouse east elevation Camera facing northwest Photo 5 Bathhouse south gated doorway Camera facing north Photo 6 South wing bathhouse interior Camera facing north Photo 7 Pool Camera facing southwest Photo 8 Baseball field, from east fence Camera facing west Photo 9 Baseball field, from west fence Camera facing southeast Photo 10 Baseball stands Camera facing west Photo 11 Baseball stands Camera facing south Page 5 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 12 Basketball Court and Bandstand Camera facing south Photo 13 Bandstand Camera facing south Photo 14 Creek with west bridge Camera facing northwest Photo 15 Creek with east bridge Camera facing southeast Photo 16 Creek with west bridge Camera facing south Photo 17 Picnic area Camera facing east Photo 18 1996 Recreation Center Camera facing north Paperwork Reduction Act Statement: This information is being collected for applications to the National Register of Historic Places to nominate properties for listing or determine eligibility for listing, to list properties, and to amend existing listings. Response to this request is required to obtain a benefit in accordance with the National Historic Preservation Act, as amended (16 U.S.C.460 et seq.). Estimated Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this form is estimated to average 100 hours per response including time for reviewing instructions, gathering and maintaining data, and completing and reviewing the form. Direct comments regarding this burden estimate or any aspect of this form to the Office of Planning and Performance Management. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, 1849 C. Street, NW, Washington, DC. Page 6 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Description Parque Zaragoza in Austin, Texas, is a 15-acre public park at 2608 Gonzales Street, owned and maintained by the city of Austin Parks and Recreation Department. Nestled within an East Austin neighborhood, the park is surrounded by modest one- and-two-story residences to the north, Gonzales Street to the south, North Pleasant Valley Road to the east, and Pedernales Street to the west. This neighborhood has been occupied by predominantly Mexican American families since its development in the early- to mid-twentieth century. The L-shaped property, bisected by Boggy Creek, comprises a large parcel to the north and a smaller one to the south.1 Mature oaks shade green space, used for picnics and outdoor gatherings, to the northeast. The northwest quadrant contains a 1933 pool and 1941 bathhouse, both contributing elements to the historic district that retain a high degree of integrity. The pool remains in seasonal use. A playground, bandstand, basketball courts, and volleyball courts lie roughly in the park’s center. The south parcel includes a baseball field and bleachers and a modern recreation center (built in 1996) with parking. A steel footbridge spans the creek northeast of the baseball field, while another links the recreation center to the park’s northern amenities. A concrete and steel bandstand, located to the northeast and across Boggy Creek from the new recreation center and erected during the early 1970s, occupies the site of an earlier wooden bandstand donated from nearby East Avenue Park in the late 1930s.2 Since its establishment as a City of Austin recreational area in 1931––after years of petitioning by Mexican American community leaders––Parque Zaragoza has continuously served the surrounding neighborhood, as well as Austin’s larger Mexican American community.3 As physical evidence of Mexican American Austinites’ successful advocacy against institutional racism, the park symbolizes the power of grassroots organizing and persistence. Today, it remains a recreation destination and venue for sports, civic activities, fiestas, and education. Parque Zaragoza contains a variety of built resources in addition to public green space. The bathhouse, pool, basketball court, bandstand, and undeveloped picnic areas retain enough integrity to contribute to the historic district. While other park structures and objects have been replaced and added over the years as the community’s needs changed, a few remain in the relative locations of earlier resources. Swimming Pool and Pumphouse Parque Zaragoza’s swimming pool (contributing structure) was built in 1933 as a segregated public facility. Though it was one of the smallest city pools, it remained the only public pool open to Mexican Americans for much of the twentieth century, drawing record crowds to the park each summer. The concrete pool in the northwest quadrant of the park measures approximately 100 feet by 40 feet.4 A concrete sidewalk punctuated by depth markers and benches and edged by a grassy lawn surrounds the pool. Three-quarters of the site are enclosed by a chain-link fence topped with razor wire, with the northeast corner wrapped by the 1941 bathhouse. While the pool’s interior has been resurfaced and its ladders, lifeguard stands, benches, and diving boards have been replaced, its design, location, and function remain intact.5 It receives regular maintenance to accommodate seasonal use. A shed-roofed CMU pumphouse and tank (noncontributing structure) are adjacent to the east sidewalk. 1 Vangie Cheryl Ulila, “Parque Zaragoza,” National Register of Historic Places nomination (Unpublished report, University of Texas, 2018), Section 7. 2 Jen Massing-Harris, unpublished interview by author, Austin, February 2020; Amanda Covo et al., “The History of Rosewood Park,” Austin Parks Foundation, February 5, 2020. 3 “About Parque Zaragoza Neighborhood Park,” Parque Zaragoza Neighborhood Alliance, 2019, http://www.zaragozaparkneighborhoodassn.org/parque-zaragoza-history.html. 4 Brian D. Behnken, Fighting Their Own Battles: Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas, University of North Carolina Press, 2011, www.jstor.org/stable/10.5149/9780807877876_behnken; Nina Hernandez, “Austin's Pool System Will Collapse If We Don't Save It,” The Austin Chronicle, June 1, 2018, https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2018-06- 01/austins-pool-system-will-collapse-if-we-dont-save-it; Ulila, “Parque Zaragoza.” 5 Andrew Leith, “Parque Zaragoza,” National Register of Historic Places nomination (Unpublished report, University of Texas, 2014), Section 7. Section 7 - Page 7 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Bathhouse Parque Zaragoza’s bathhouse (contributing building) was constructed around 1941 by community volunteers and National Youth Association program members with Parks Department support. It abuts the northeast corner of the swimming pool. In addition to its basic function as a restroom, shower, and changing area for bathers, the bathhouse—referred to as a “shelter house and caretaker’s unit”6 in period documentation—was historically used as both the caretaker’s residence and an all-purpose community center. Its character-defining features include expansive horizontal windows, low-relief brick coping and windowsills, long and low massing, and pointed-arch entrances on the pool-facing (west) elevation. The one-story L-plan building’s shorter east-west wing measures approximately 47 feet in length, while the longer north-south wing measures 69 feet. It is 10’6” in height to its flat roofline.7 Its slab foundation meets a sloping sidewalk at each door, which have all been modified to meet ADA requirements. The building hugs the fenced pool area, with parking areas to the north and west and a new (2017) playground across a grassy lawn to the east. Oaks shade the parking areas. There is evidence of an original gravel drive and small parking area in the lawn between the bathhouse and playground, adjacent to the current main entrance on the east façade. When community meetings or celebrations grew too large for the activity areas within the bathhouse, organizers often set up tables in this space; all were welcome to participate. The bathhouse is long and low, clad in red street-paver-style brick with pale grey mortar in a running bond that highlights the building’s horizontality.8 Brick coping at the parapet extends approximately one inch in relief, with replacement metal scuppers beneath it. Door and window openings are framed in steel and covered with painted steel grilles. What appears to be a structural steel C-channel spans each grille. Most windows have low-relief brick sills that reflect the simple coping; however, two large windows at the east elevation have unadorned openings that sit only four brick courses—less than one foot—above ground level. To the right of these are a wooden door; a smaller vertically-oriented window of medium height with a missing sash; a painted metal door without grilles but covered by a flat-roof portico with two steel-pipe supports (non-original); and a long narrow window whose sill sits roughly halfway up the building, further emphasizing its horizontality. The north elevation of the building’s short (east-west) wing contains two high-sill horizontal windows on the left and two medium-height, vertically oriented windows on the right. Each window’s dimensions match their counterparts on the east elevation. The east-west wing’s west elevation has no openings. At the interior corner of the L, two gated pointed arches provide access to the pool from the building’s interior changing areas. The arched openings, facing west and south, are the building’s most notable character-defining features. A long window extending almost to ground level lies to the left of the south-facing arch on the east-west wing, similar in dimension and placement to the two largest windows at the east elevation. Three identical windows adorn the east wall adjacent to the arch on the north-south wing. Each window has a simple brick sill to match the coping and sills on the building’s smaller windows. The north-south wing’s south-facing end wall is obscured by a large, fenced plastic water tank, but it appears to have a door and a large window of similar proportions. All openings, save the small medium-height window on the east elevation and the arched entryway on the west elevation, are boarded up beneath their grilles. 6 City of Austin Recreation Department, 1941 Annual Report. 7 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 8 Ibid. Section 7 - Page 8 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas The interior originally featured a large multipurpose activities room, a two-room apartment for a permanent caretaker, and restrooms. The caretaker’s lodgings may have occupied what is today the northwest activities room. The interior of the pool house is made up of five main rooms. The first is a large 17’-8” by 39’ activities room to the south. The primary point of egress in this room is to the east, a secondary point of egress [is] to the south, and an interior hallway [is] to the north. This room is open, and contains a small utilities closet in the southwest corner, two large east-facing windows, one south-facing widow, and three large west-facing windows that overlook the pool. The walls are exposed brick. A small central office (13’ by 7’-4”) sits just north of the south activities room. This space has an east-facing exterior window as well as north- and south-facing windows that may have been used for ticket collecting/admissions. A hall extends to the west of the office. The second main point of exterior egress opens onto a small porch with a flat concrete and steel awning that was likely a later addition. One restroom occupies the northeast corner of the building and contains window openings. Another] restroom along the north wall contains one long window. A small utilities closet is located along the east-west hall to the west is another deeper storage closet. Finally, the far northwest room is18’ by 19’-3”. This space is painted red and features a built-in sink in the northern corner of the east wall. Two small windows (each 38” wide by 40” tall) are centered along the north wall and one large (75” wide by 53” tall) window is centered along the south wall, facing the pool. The opening into the room, on the south corner of the east wall, has been enlarged and remains unfinished.9 The interior floor is plain reinforced concrete, elevated approximately one inch above the natural grade line. The interior walls appear to recycle broken red bricks due to the varying dimensions and pattern. The low windows have a protruding concrete sill at the interior, which looks like a later addition. The ceiling on the longer wing is missing, while the shorter wing’s ceiling is covered with plywood.10 The bathhouse’s interior has been altered continuously throughout the course of its lifetime to suit the changing needs of the city and park patrons. The bathhouse shows signs of deferred maintenance inside and out, likely exacerbated since its 2015 closure. Aside from the missing eastern window, non-original portico, and replacement doors, the exterior building envelope is intact. It still clearly conveys its significance. Playground, courts, and bandstand The Parks and Recreation Department constructed a new playground and climbing structure (noncontributing structure) in 2018 to the southeast of the bathhouse. Beyond it lies an asphalt basketball court constructed during the 1940s (contributing structure), a volleyball court (noncontributing structure), and a 1970s bandstand (contributing structure). The bandstand is located just north of Boggy Creek on the site of an early twentieth-century wooden structure donated from East Avenue Park during the 1930s. Its painted-brick platform, rectangular in shape and around three feet high, sits atop a concrete pad. It is covered by a corrugated metal shed roof supported by painted steel pipes. Painted metal guardrails enclose three sides of the platform. A small brick storage room with a painted metal door and flat cement roof projects from the western side of the stage, flanked by concrete steps. Though the bandstand’s construction date is estimated at 1973,11 it contributes as a recent-past addition to the park for its continued use as a platform for Tejano and Conjunto artists, and as the last construction project during the cohesive era of community-led improvements to the park in the mid-twentieth century. Furthermore, as one of Parque Zaragoza’s community-initiated and city-implemented construction projects, it is likely that funding and approval efforts began prior to the fifty-year mark. The year 1973 represents a logical end point and less arbitrary date that the fifty-year mark. As it extends only one year beyond the fifty- year mark at the anticipated time of listing there is no requirement for meeting Criteria Consideration G.12 9 Adapted from Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 10 Ulila, “Parque Zaragoza.” 11 Ulila, “Parque Zaragoza.” 12 National Park Service. National Register Bulletin 15: How to Apply the National Register Criteria for Evaluation. “Criteria Consideration G: Properties that Have Achieved Significance within the Last 50 Years,” 41. Section 7 - Page 9 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas According to a community member with longstanding ties to the park, baseball games were originally held on the current site of the basketball court.13 The volleyball courts cannot be dated to the period of significance. Picnic areas Next to the courts and bandstand, the park’s natural picnic area (contributing site) sprawls northeast. Over 400 mature trees14 shade this grassy meadow dotted with benches and picnic tables and crisscrossed by dirt walking paths. This site has been used as a gathering space for Mexican and Mexican American cultural celebrations since at least 1931. This natural landscape continues along Boggy Creek’s meandering path to the west within an area annexed in 1970, which extends the park’s usable space and retains enough integrity to contribute to the historic district. Ball fields In the late 1940s and early ‘50s, park advocates successfully campaigned for the construction of a baseball field (contributing site) in its southwestern quadrant. Today, the fenced field contains a 1947 grandstand (contributing structure).15 A softball field was originally adjacent to the baseball diamond, but it was removed to make space for the new recreation center in the mid-1990s. New fencing has been added to the baseball field to provide for continuous use, but it retains its original use and placement. Boggy Creek retaining walls and bridges Boggy Creek, a tributary of the Colorado River, bisects Parque Zaragoza. Its path has changed over time as floods, erosion, and human intervention have molded the landscape. Original wooden footbridges have been replaced by two arched steel truss bridges. One crosses the creek west of the baseball field, while the other abuts the recreation center at its north elevation. The creek bed has been reinforced with concrete; modern terraced rubble-fill retaining walls buttress its steep banks. The bridges and retaining walls do not contribute to the district. Recreation center After decades of lobbying by community advocates and residents, a new recreation center (noncontributing) was constructed on the site of the former softball field in 1996. Suggestions from the neighborhood incorporated into this project include outdoor restrooms accessible from the park. Construction of the project was a cooperative effort of the Department of Public Works and Transportation and Austin Parks and Recreation Department at a cost of $2.3 million. The new center held its grand opening on May 5, 1996, during the Cinco de Mayo celebration.16 Accessed via Gonzales Street, this stone veneer building houses a gymnasium, classrooms and meeting rooms, offices, and a kitchen. Curved metal rooflines and clerestory windows add light and visual interest to the building’s interior. Its main hall is ornamented with murals by local artist Fidencio Duran, whose work focuses on telling the stories of his family and community histories. Many of Duran’s Austin murals honor the contributions of Hispanic East Austinites.17 13 “About Parque Zaragoza,” PZNA 14 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 15 Minutes of the City Council of Austin, Texas, January 23, 1947; “Survey Ordered for New Tennis Courts Given City,” The Austin Statesman, January 24, 1947. 16 Austintexas.gov, https://www.austintexas.gov/department/parque-zaragoza-recreation-center 17 “Fidencio Duran,” https://www.fidencioduran.com/welcome.html Section 7 - Page 10 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Summary of Resources Map Key Name Type Integrity Status Date 1933 1941 2018 1931 1970 Swimming pool Structure Pumphouse Structure ca. 2000s Bathhouse Building Playground Structure Basketball court Structure ca. 1940s Volleyball court Structure ca. 1970s Bandstand Structure ca. 1973 Picnic area Picnic area annex Site Site Site Ball fields ca.1947-1950s Grandstand Structure 1947 VI.A-B. Footbridges (2) Structures ca. 1996 Retaining wall Structure ca. 1996 Recreation center Building 1996 I.A. I.B. II. III.A. III.B. III.C. III.D. IV.A. IV.B. V. V.A. VI.C. VII. Yes N/A Yes N/A Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes N/A N/A N/A Contributing Noncontributing Contributing Noncontributing Contributing Noncontributing Contributing Contributing Contributing Contributing Contributing Noncontributing Noncontributing Noncontributing Section 7 - Page 11 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Statement of Significance For over eighty years, Parque Zaragoza has served as a gathering place for Mexican American Austinites to celebrate their cultural heritage, honor their civic accomplishments, and educate younger generations on the importance of cultural identity and community involvement. Established in 1931 after extensive grassroots activism by community leaders, the park is a physical reminder of the resilience and fortitude of those who fought for a uniquely Mexican American space during an era rife with segregation, institutional disenfranchisement, and systemic racism. The park’s intact layout and contributing sites, building, and structures tell how community advocacy shaped East Austin’s landscape and Austin’s cultural identity throughout the twentieth century. As we acknowledge the struggles and triumphs of Mexicans and Mexican Americans in Austin’s tumultuous history, it is essential to honor their contributions to the city’s civic, economic, social, and built fabric. Parque Zaragoza exemplifies these contributions and is nominated to the National Register under Criterion A in the areas of Ethnic Heritage: Hispanic (Mexican), Recreation/Entertainment, and Social History at the local level of significance. Parque Zaragoza’s period of significance is 1931-1973, slightly exceeding the fifty-year point at the time of nomination; the year 1973 marks the last construction project in a cohesive era of community-led improvements. Austin’s Mexican Roots: Emigration from Mexico Mexican culture flourished in Central Texas since long before the establishment of the Republic of Texas and subsequent statehood, but many Austin residents trace their roots to those who arrived from Mexico within the last 150 years. Generations of Austinites have struggled for representation in the face of societal prejudice and systemic governmental discrimination against people of color. Parque Zaragoza’s story begins with those who fought for change in East Austin at a time when equality seemed impossible. The city’s cultural landscape—and Parque Zaragoza’s significance as a touchstone of Mexican American heritage within it—is entwined with their hardships and triumphs. East Austin is located east of Interstate Highway 35 from downtown and north of the Colorado River. Before the Civil War, Anglo American farmers occupied most of the eastern outlots, land apportioned to settlers by the General Land Office.18 After the war, the outlots’ population grew and its demographic makeup shifted.19 Post-war railroad expansion made Texas more accessible, bringing people, jobs, and building materials to Austin and its environs. A mix of native- born Texans, European immigrants, Mexican immigrants and migrants, and African American freedmen lived in East Austin by the 1870s. However, those who emigrated from Mexico often settled first in the “Old Mexico” neighborhood downtown, near present-day Republic Square.20 In the early twentieth century, civil unrest in Mexico spurred a steady influx of new residents seeking stability in Texas. Racial Dynamics in Early Twentieth-Century Austin, Texas identifies the Mexican Revolution of 1910 as “the catalyst for, rather than the main cause of, the massive immigration occurring during the next two decades”21 and cites Texas’ economic potential as the impetus for its sustained population growth. As Mexico’s decade-long civil war wore on, “increased immigration from Mexico augmented the size of the existing Tejano community and invigorated it with an unadulterated dose of Mexican culture.”22 The Chamber of Commerce encouraged Mexican immigrants to live and work 18 Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., “East Austin Historic Resources Survey,” City of Austin, 2016. 19 Martha Doty Freeman, “East Austin Multiple Resource Area,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1985), Section 8. 20 Ibid., I-26 21 Jason McDonald, Racial Dynamics in Early Twentieth-Century Austin, Texas. (Plymouth, UK: Lexington Books, 2012), 25. 22 Robert C. Overfelt, “Mexican Revolution,” Handbook of Texas Online, June 15, 2010, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pqmhe. Section 8 - Page 12 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas in Austin to meet the expanding city’s labor needs.23 The 1910 census reported that Hispanic households represented around 2 percent of all Austin residents;24 by 1930, they represented 13 percent.25 Early Displacement and Intra-city Migration While Austin’s Old Mexico neighborhood remained an epicenter of Mexican American life at the turn of the 20th century, its conditions deteriorated as more people arrived and critical infrastructure and sanitation issues were ignored by the municipal government. Industrial growth spurred construction of railroad spurs and warehouses near Mexican American enclaves along the tracks at East Avenue and 3rd Street, obliterating residential blocks and pushing out their inhabitants. As churches and businesses moved east amid rising racism, displaced families often migrated east to be closer to these institutions, some taking advantage of new housing as the railroad boom facilitated residential development away from the city center. A series of bridges constructed throughout the 1870s linked downtown Austin to new neighborhoods east of Waller Creek, and the streetcar system extended east during the 1890s.26 Travis County records indicate that, by 1924, one-third of Mexican American households lived in East Austin, with the rest residing in older Mexican and Mexican American enclaves or in rural settlements.27 The wave of Mexican immigrants faced immense societal pressure as they struggled to build new lives in Texas. “The state was still … grappling with an antebellum legacy of…Jim Crow era regulations and the construction of identity as a binary of black and white,”28 Andrew Leith writes, citing Ruth Allen’s 1920s observation of “the temerity of a people who still insist upon a third element—Mexican Americans.”29 The ongoing threat of cultural erasure underscored the community’s need for a space dedicated to the expression and celebration of Mexican heritage. Public Spaces in 19th-century Austin While Edwin Waller’s 1839 plan for Austin included four public squares, all were occupied by non-civic uses such as markets, religious gatherings, and—in what would later become Wooldridge Square—a garbage dump.30 During the 1870s, the railroad economy prompted construction of streetcars and bridges to accommodate the population boom. In 1875, Austin gained its first true public park when Governor E. M. Pease gifted 23 acres to the city for the express purpose of public recreation.31 However, a municipal park system did not develop until relatively late in Austin’s history. Municipal funding was sporadically allocated to civic projects after the 1870s, depending on the indebted city’s available resources, with varying success. The collapse of the 60-foot Austin Dam in 1900 further compounded the city’s growing debt. Park acquisition, construction, and administration — like electric streetlights, pavement, sewers, and flood control— did not factor into early politicians’ budgets.32 23 Ethan A. Raath and Jennifer E. Ruch, “Parque Zaragoza, 1931 – Present,” (Unpublished report, Texas Historical Commission, 2014). 24 Note that the census most likely left a significant percentage of nonwhite residents uncounted. 25 Vivian Elizabeth Smyrl, “Travis County,” Handbook of Texas Online, September 2, 2016, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hct08. 26 Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., “East Austin Historic Resources Survey”; Greenhill, Sharon Edgar. Impact of Central City Revitalization on East Austin—Austin, Texas. (Austin: The University of Texas, 1980) 12-22. 27 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 28 Ibid. 29McDonald, Racial Dynamics, 17. 30 “Wooldridge Square,” The Cultural Landscape Foundation, https://tclf.org/landscapes/wooldridge-square. Accessed May 27, 2020. 31 Smyrl, “Travis County.” 32 Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., “East Austin Historic Resources Survey”; Smyrl, “Travis County.” Section 8 - Page 13 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Emancipation Park and Republic Square Celebrations In 1907, the Travis County Emancipation Celebration Association purchased five acres near Rosewood Avenue and Chicon Street to create one of the first parks in East Austin.33 Thomas J. White, the Association’s founder, believed that the annual Juneteenth celebration should be held on land owned by Black residents. As such, Emancipation Park was not only a prototype for Austin's future parks; it also promoted the idea of outdoor gathering spaces tailored to cultural celebrations, much like the traditional multi-day fiestas during Diez y Seis and Cinco de Mayo held in what is now Republic Square (prior to and during the mass displacement of residents from the surrounding Mexican and Mexican American neighborhood) from the 1870s onward.34 Emancipation Park hosted civic events all year long, but the largest crowds arrived on June 19 each year to celebrate the end of slavery in Texas.35 The park was seized thirty years later by the city via eminent domain to build Rosewood Courts, a segregated public housing project for low-income African American residents.36 20th Century Changes Austin made slow progress toward a public park system during A. P. Wooldridge’s decade-long tenure as mayor. Elected on a platform of growth and reform after a complete government overhaul in 1908, Wooldridge funded substantial, long- overdue civic improvements. Wooldridge Square was cleared of trash, its drainage improved, and a bandstand erected; downtown streets were paved and lighted; public sewers were constructed; and Barton Springs and adjacent parkland were acquired for public use.37 After another government reform established the current council-manager format in 1924, politicians turned their efforts toward city planning and beautification.38 This ultimately led to their solicitation of Dallas planning firm Koch and Fowler and city council’s adoption of their 1928 master plan. Though the Koch and Fowler plan had disastrous consequences for Austin’s racial integration, some of its recommendations resulted in a $4.25 million bond issue for civic improvements, including new parks and public pools.39 In 1928, council established the Austin Recreation Department (now the Parks and Recreation Department, or PARD); within a year, the department calculated that 139,000 Austinites had visited the city’s parkland and recreational facilities.40 Displacement to East Austin and Institutionalized Racism East Austin’s Mexican and Mexican American communities grew steadily in the first decades of the twentieth century, a result of increased immigration, rising discrimination in other parts of the city, and displacement from the Old Mexico neighborhood. Racial tension escalated around the time of World War I, precipitating changes that physically and ideologically distanced East Austin’s neighborhoods from downtown and from white enclaves to the west. By the end of 33 Teresa Palomo Acosta, “Juneteenth,” Handbook of Texas Online, June 15, 2010, https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/lkj01. 34 Preservation Central, Inc., “Historic/Archeological Research on Republic Square: Draft Letter Report,” March 4, 2002. 35 Hasan, Syeda. “Staring Down Development, Neighbors Seek Historical Recognition for Emancipation Park,” KUT.org, Jan 19, 2017, https://www.kut.org/post/staring-down-development-neighbors-seek-historical-recognition-emancipation-park. 36 Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., “East Austin Historic Resources Survey” 37 David C. Humphrey, “Austin, TX (Travis County)”, Handbook of Texas Online, October 23, 2018, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hda03. 38 Humphrey, “Austin, TX (Travis County)”; Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 39 Ibid.; Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., “East Austin Historic Resources Survey.” 40 “Administrative History,” Parks and Recreation Department Photo Negative Collection, 2014, https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/aushc/00409/ahc-00409.html; City of Austin Recreation Department, 1930 Annual Report. Section 8 - Page 14 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas the 1920s, white Austinites had begun to voice dissatisfaction with the population boom, and citizens of color faced discrimination daily.41 Institutionalized segregation—codified by Koch and Fowler’s 1928 city plan and Jim Crow laws and enforced by government denial of services and construction of physical infrastructure barriers—forced Austin into an era of cultural and environmental division. Jason McDonald describes the social changes that accompanied the city’s demographic shift: “Prior to WWI Mexicans in Austin were normally viewed and treated as part of the white population. After the war Mexicans increasingly found themselves marginalized, and by the eve of the Great Depression they were largely viewed and treated by whites as an extraneous racial group.”42 The 1928 Koch and Fowler plan was designed to thwart the 1917 Supreme Court ruling against segregationist zoning laws. It recommended restricting all government services for African Americans to East Austin, which previously held a more racially and culturally diverse mix of residents. Thus, African American Austinite residents were forced to move to a single area to access parks, schools, and other segregated municipal facilities and to receive the city utilities and residential infrastructure support for which they paid taxes. Immediately following the plan’s adoption, industrial zoning was allowed in the area and higher-intensity transportation corridors were planned, stifling residential improvements.43 Though the Koch and Fowler plan did not explicitly segregate Mexican American residents, prejudice and racial barriers—such as racially restrictive deed covenants on west Austin properties and rampant municipal disregard for quality of life in East Austin—affected their daily lives. Even before the plan was officially adopted, churches and large employers of Mexican Americans relocated to East Austin as discrimination increased elsewhere. Property values in East Austin began to decline nearly a decade before the plan’s implementation as the city failed to provide essential services to the area.44 The government’s refusal to provide services to communities of color extended to all aspects of daily life: African American and Mexican American schools, parks, and other institutions ceased to exist in west Austin, and essential services like sewers, paved streets, and electricity in East Austin were nonexistent or substandard. Utility and transportation lines were deliberately underprovided and poorly maintained, even as similar public amenities in west Austin improved. Residents could not avoid substandard services by choosing private utility providers, as those providers did not offer services to East Austin.45 New Deal housing policies encouraged private covenants and deed restrictions to safeguard “good neighborhoods,” reinforcing the prejudiced practices already employed by white sellers in Austin. The federal government established the Housing and Loan Corporation (HOLC) in 1933 to help homeowners avoid foreclosure during the Great Depression via low-interest mortgages. However, HOLC’s redlining policies—discriminatory classifications that equated lender risk with minority populations—made it harder or impossible to obtain mortgage insurance in neighborhoods with nonwhite residents.46 In 1936 the Federal Housing Administration issued policy guidelines intending to increase homeownership and bolster property values, insisting that covenants were “an absolute necessity if good neighborhoods and stable property values are to be maintained.”47 Of course, these “good neighborhoods,” as defined by the redlining maps of the era, were 41 Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., “East Austin Historic Resources Survey,” I-63. 42 McDonald, Racial Dynamics, 6. 43 Greenhill, Impact, 32; Hardy-Heck-Moore, “East Austin Historic Resources Survey.” 44 Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., “East Austin Historic Resources Survey,” I-22. 45 Ibid., I-29. 46 Ibid., I-77. 47 Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., “East Austin Historic Resources Survey,” I-78. Section 8 - Page 15 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas characterized by the absence of “infiltration by foreign-born, negro, or lower-grade population”—that is, they were occupied by wealthy white homeowners. 48 To comply with the FHA guidelines, Austin’s city council decided to allow new subdivisions in north and west Austin to exclude African American and Mexican American buyers. The Rise of Activism and Comités Patrióticos Since East Austin residents could not depend upon the city to provide adequate public services, they looked to their neighbors for support. Enterprising Austinites of the post-World War II era strengthened already prominent non- governmental institutions, from churches to political organizations to businesses. Communities of color all over the nation drew from strong traditions of grassroots activism to effect change in their cities, and their efforts resulted in policy changes that laid the groundwork for correcting inequities in municipal services and facilities in the decades to come.49 “At a time when the Hispanic population was denied the most basic of civil right[s] in America, unity within the local communities was an important means of preserving their cultural identity,” write Ethan Raath and Jennifer Ruch.50 The League of United Latin American Citizens was established in 1929 by a group of Corpus Christi residents to advocate for better education, employment rights, and civic equality. 51 Following LULAC’s lead, Ladies’ LULAC, the G.I. Forum, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, and local civil rights chapters mobilized to combat political disenfranchisement and racial discrimination against Mexican Americans. Austin citizens recognized the need for local activism in order to facilitate these changes, including the right to express their culture in an outdoor space of their own. During the 1920s, the Mexican consulate established statewide chapters of the Comisión Honorífica Mexicana in Texas. The commission, organized for the purpose of mutual aid to Mexican Americans, gave rise to many associated local comités patrióticos (“patriotic committees”). These local groups worked with the consulate to “promote Mexican patriotism and foster good relations”52 between Texas and Mexico. In 1932, Amador Candelas established Austin’s official comité patriótico.53 Through community outreach, it helped Austinites stay informed on political issues, both in Mexico and the United States. Comités also sponsored educational activities and events celebrating Mexican culture, with the goal of cultivating “mutual appreciation of the cultures on opposite sides of the border.”54 One of the comités patrióticos’ most visible roles involved planning, advertising, and fundraising for annual fiestas Diez y Seis de Septiembre and Cinco de Mayo, which “aim[ed] toward remembering the thirst for freedom the Mexican Americans and others who cherish independence celebrate every September 16th and May 5th.”55 In a time when many struggled to assimilate to the dominant, often hostile Anglo culture in Austin, the comité patriótico encouraged Mexican Americans to take pride in their heritage, strengthening their cultural ties to Mexico while forming a tight-knit local community. Parque Zaragoza soon became a cultural center for the entire region under the auspices of the comité patriótico. In addition to Candelas, founding members included Macrino Ortiz, Ignacio Arriaza, Frank Morales, Ignacio Acosta, Pedro Cortez Sueiez, Severino Guerria, Frank Rios, and Frank Prado.56 48 Home Owners' Loan Corporation, “Residential Security Map”; Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., “East Austin Historic Resource Survey,” I-77. 49 Hardy-Heck-Moore, Inc., “East Austin Historic Resources Survey,” I-94. 50 Raath and Ruch, “Parque Zaragoza.” 51 Cynthia E. Orozco, “"League of United Latin American Citizens,”" Handbook of Texas Online, June 15, 2010, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/wel0. 52 Ibid. 53 Raath and Ruch, “Parque Zaragoza.” 54 María-Cristina García, “Comité Patriótico Mexicano,” Handbook of Texas Online, August 4, 2016, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pqc03. 55 The Austin American Statesman, May 4, 1996. 56 Parks and Recreation Board Meeting Minutes, 1931-1935, Austin Files AF_Parks: P1200(31)-(35): 203280, Austin History Center; Arnold Garcia, Jr., “Zaragoza Celebration a Grand Time for Community,” The Austin American-Statesman, May 4, 1996, A13; City of Austin Recreation Department, 1941 Annual Report. Section 8 - Page 16 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Founding of Parque Zaragoza The 1928 Koch and Fowler city plan recommended allocating funding to public amenities, including parkland, as part of its strategy for segregating African American residents in East Austin. Rosewood Park, a segregated park for African Americans between Rosewood Avenue and E. 12th Street, opened soon after the plan’s adoption.57 Mexican Americans had been migrating to East Austin throughout the decade, but still had limited access to dedicated public space adequate for large outdoor gatherings. According to Recreation Department documents, a segregated park opened near Our Lady of Guadalupe church in 1929, called the “Lydia Street playground” or “Mexican Park” in contemporary planning documents. The Lydia Street park hosted City-sponsored recreational programming, but its lack of lighting limited evening activities. This playground remained in use until the 1930s, even after Parque Zaragoza opened.58 Intensive lobbying by cultural advocacy groups, including founding members of Austin’s earliest comité patriótico and community members, businesses, and affiliated organizations, finally convinced the city’s new Recreation Department to purchase a plot of land for a new segregated Mexican American park in East Austin in 1930. In 1929, the comité organized a Diez y Seis de Septiembre gathering across the street from Parque Zaragoza’s current location;59 by 1930, the Recreation Department planned for a new “Mexican Park” to be built in the vicinity.60 On April 23, 1931, W. S. Benson sold 9.27 acres on Pedernales Street to the city for $5,250.61 In a 2014 interview, a senior community member described the parcel as “a small farm on the outskirts of Austin, with a house sheltered by live oak trees along Boggy Creek.”62 Parque Zaragoza—known as Zaragosa Park63 in early publications—opened later that year. Its name honored Mexican general Ignacio Zaragoza Seguin, who led his army to victory against French invaders at the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. As soon as the city purchased the land, community advocates sprang into action, establishing the Zaragosa Park Board to organize activities, plan improvements, and lead park maintenance efforts.64 Severiano Guerra, Amador Candelas, Frank Rios, Miguel Guerrero, and a host of neighborhood residents jump-started the board with tireless commitment, ensuring that the city maintained the momentum necessary for the park’s completion.65 Guerra was well known in the community. A veteran of the Mexican Revolution of 1910, he also founded a branch of the Cruz Azul (Blue Cross), a community-based welfare society that provided medical services to the residents of East Austin. Candelas was a business leader in the community [. . .] remembered fondly for the “midnight movies” he presented for Mexicans in downtown Austin. These men began the work of building the park, but the local comité patriótico cemented its place in Mexican American culture and history in Austin.66 Early improvements Neighborhood residents and Austin’s larger Mexican American community repeatedly petitioned the city for park improvements, maintenance, and program funding for years after Parque Zaragoza’s founding. Despite the city’s historical apathy regarding East Austin, Parque Zaragoza’s advocates made improvements—even when they had to rely on volunteer labor. 57 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 58 City of Austin Recreation Department, 1928-1937 Annual Reports. 59 Raath and Ruch, “Parque Zaragoza” 60 Recreation Department Board Meeting Minutes, 1931-1935. 61 City Council Meeting Minutes, February 19, 1931, http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=89179; Travis County Warranty Deed, April 23, 1931, Austin History Center. 62 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 63 The park operated under the incorrect spelling of “Zaragosa” until the Zaragoza Advisory Board petitioned to have the misspelling recognized and revised to Zaragoza in 1989. The petition was approved on June 19, 1989. Source: Leith, “Parque Zaragoza” 64 Raath and Ruch, “Parque Zaragoza.” 65 Mark Forsyth, “Parque Zaragoza,” Texas Architect, July-August 1996, 44. 66 Alvino Mendoza, interview by Ethan Raath, November 18, 2014. Section 8 - Page 17 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Recreation Department minutes from the 1930s describe the park’s development leading up to the construction of the 1941 bathhouse. After a June 4, 1930 pledge that the “Mexican park and playground [will] be purchased as soon as possible,” the department allocated funding for improvements in 1931: $2,000 for a playground, followed by relocation of the East Avenue Park bandstand to Zaragoza. In 1933, the department allocated another $2,500 for the construction of a swimming pool. 67 In 1934, the Recreation Department recommended adding a tennis court, a fence, scum gutters and a walkway around the pool, a concrete bridge to replace one of the rustic cedar-and-rubble footbridges spanning Boggy Creek, and a dressing room for the pool. At the same time, the Department selected the “Mexican neighborhood committee” as the park’s caretakers.68 It would take the committee six more years and the promise of volunteer labor and additional funds to convince the Department to implement further recommendations. By the end of the 1930s, park attendance consistently surpassed previous estimates. In 1941, the Recreation Department reported 8,890 swimmers and 9,000 “Mexican Celebration” (Diez y Seis de Septiembre) participants.69 Continued programming and infrastructure improvements, spearheaded by the Zaragoza Park Board in conjunction with the Recreation Department, bolstered Parque Zaragoza’s popularity. This initial success sparked support from the Department for the addition of a bathhouse, referred to as the “NYA Construction Project” in Recreation Department records. The project’s budget, augmented by extensive community fundraising, was finalized in early 1941. The Austin American-Statesman noted in a February 1941 article that profits from the previous year’s fiestas patrias and “other entertainments sponsored by the Federation of Mexican Societies” were earmarked for park improvements: “A check for $250 from the federation has been turned into the city’s general fund, and the city [council] passed a resolution Thursday calling for an expenditure of that amount at the park.”70 In addition to forty-five National Youth Association workers, community volunteers and Recreation Department staff completed the bathhouse the following spring.71 A photograph dating to the 1950s identifies a later bathhouse improvement project: conversion of the caretakers’ living quarters to a public multipurpose space. As outlined in Section VI, the converted rooms sheltered decades of community assemblies, educational activities, club meetings, health clinics, and board sessions. Later development and Deferred Maintenance A 2018 summary describes park development toward the end of the district’s period of significance, paraphrasing contemporary Recreation Department publications and recollections of former administrators: During the heavy rains of 1967, the community center suffered sewage problems and toilet overflows. A $1.5 million improvement budget was allocated but got delayed due to the city’s high debt…In the 1970s more structured activities were established. In 1973 the band stage and bathhouse-cum-community center were redeveloped with a grant from [the] Model Cities Program [administered by] the US Department of Housing and Urban Development [with] the Bureau of Outdoor Recreation of the Department of the Interior through the Parks and Wildlife Department. . .The outdoor stage was [replaced] while the community center was renovated…It became a three-room building that housed the table tennis and crafts area. During the winter months, the windows were boarded up with plywood for warmth. Additional acreage was added over the years. The US Army Corps of Engineers riprapped Boggy Creek with 67 Recreation Department Board Meeting Minutes, 1930-33; Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 68 Ibid. 69 City of Austin Recreation Department, 1941 Annual Report. 70 “$656,000 Bonds Burned: Paid-Off City Obligations Destroyed,” The Austin Statesman, Feb 27, 1941; City Council Resolution 410227-4, February 27, 1941, https://austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=87753. 71 City of Austin Recreation Department, 1941 Annual Report. Section 8 - Page 18 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas limestones [in the 1980s].72 In 1970, the park’s natural space was expanded to about 15 acres when the city purchased an adjacent 6-acre undeveloped parcel. Years of constant use and deferred maintenance by the Recreation Department had taken its toll on the bathhouse by the end of the period of significance. Year after year, the building deteriorated, and the sewer issues that plagued its plumbing system continued through the 1980s.73 Multiple municipal budget crises scrapped City promises to fully refurbish it. In 1996, after decades of petitioning by the Mexican American community, the new recreation center was constructed. While the 1941 bathhouse remained in use as a restroom and changing facility, its occupancy proved sporadic. It has been vacant since 2015. CCC and NYA Contributions In the wake of the Great Depression, Roosevelt’s New Deal promise to “put America back to work” included efforts to construct public infrastructure, conserve natural resources, and enhance public access to America’s outdoors, opening doors for tourism and bolstering economic viability for rural states. The Civilian Conservation Corps, a federal public works program active between 1933 and 1942, offered construction and maintenance jobs to the unemployed. In Texas, the CCC was instrumental in establishing and expanding state parks and their facilities, creating a network of accessible natural sites.74 The CCC’s iconic building style—horizontal forms constructed with native materials, simple structural techniques, and rustic ornamentation—was a product of its time, influenced heavily by National Park Service architects and administrators Herbert Maier and Thomas Chalmers Vint. Now called “National Park Rustic,” this uniquely American style is also nicknamed “parkitecture” for its longstanding association with public outdoor spaces. Park designers drew inspiration from Texas’ history and landscape, employing the Arts and Crafts movement’s ideals, Frederick Law Olmsted’s planning theories, and Frank Lloyd Wright’s principles of organic architecture to align park buildings with the natural forms and phenomena surrounding them. To designers following Vint’s precept of landscape preservation,75 Texas itself provided the visual interest that drew people to parks; buildings should blend in while providing simple shelter to visitors.76 Parque Zaragoza’s rustic bathhouse, though modest in scale, clearly exhibits CCC-influenced design choices. The 1941 bathhouse, historically the only enclosed structure in the park, was constructed by community volunteers and laborers from the National Youth Administration, a CCC affiliate under the Works Progress Administration. Funded by the National Relief Appropriation Act of 1935, the NYA supplied professional and trade-oriented training, as well as student financial aid, to U.S. citizens between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five.77 Between 1935 and 1943, the NYA’s 72 Ulila, “Parque Zaragoza.” 73 Ulila, “Parque Zaragoza.” 74 James Wright Steely. The Civilian Conservation Corps in Texas State Parks. (Austin: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 1986), 6; Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 75 Linda Flint McClelland, “Historic Park Landscapes in National and State Parks,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1995), Section E. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/82e96ca0-ee26-47fd-8d4f-aa60e4c6d023; “Thomas Chalmers Vint: Cornelius Amory Pugsley National Medal Award, 1955,” Texas A&M University Department of Recreation, Park and Tourism Sciences, 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20061019081818/http://www.rpts.tamu.edu/pugsley/Vint.htm. 76 Ethan Carr, “The ‘Noblest Landscape Problem’: Thomas C. Vint and Landscape Preservation,” In Design with Culture: Claiming America’s Landscape Heritage, ed. Charles A. Birnbaum and Mary V. Hughes (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005) 157-177. 77 Tally D. Fugate, “National Youth Administration,” The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=NA014. Section 8 - Page 19 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas “out-of-school” program employed more than 75,000 unenrolled young adults.78 Like the CCC, the NYA in Texas focused on projects with clear public benefits and connections to the outdoors: maintenance and development of highways, schools, and parks. It frequently collaborated with other federal agencies and CCC affiliates as well as local craftsmen.79 The Recreation Department’s 1941 annual report states that “45 boys helped construct the new shelter house and caretaker’s unit” at Parque Zaragoza.80 The bathhouse, a functional and harmonious—if simple—structure, originally consisted of two rooms for private living space, a public activity room, and combined toilets and dressing rooms. Vangie Ulila remarks in a 2018 analysis that the Recreation Department may have sourced the building’s masonry from a Congress Avenue paving project.81 Though the bathhouse is humble in scale compared to the park’s modern recreation center, it symbolizes grassroots achievement in a time of rampant inequity. Those who made the park and its facilities a reality during the Great Depression and determined suppression of Mexican American civil rights provided an outdoor space that would serve the community for the next eighty years. Parque Zaragoza as a Cultural Hub Throughout the years, the park has hosted thousands of community events. Its central location, nestled within majority- Mexican American neighborhoods and surrounded by schools, businesses, and homes, made it an ideal venue for formal and informal gatherings. From private weddings to political rallies, the park is as ingrained in local families’ histories and city and state legacies alike. “Parque Zaragoza was the place. It’s where everyone in the Hispanic community met for fiestas, Cinco de Mayo, Diez y Seis, quinceañeras, and just for fun. It’s our place. There is a lot of history there. Families got started there, and they aren’t going anywhere—they pass places down father to son. We worked hard for it and we’re proud of it,”82 stated a former park supervisor in an informal interview. “There were big celebrations, rallies, patriotic activities, weddings and fiestas at Parque Zaragoza,” continues a senior neighborhood stakeholder. “All the neighborhood children knew one another and played together there. The men and women of the community created the park [;] cleared the land [;] built the pool house, bandstand, and sports courts [;] and made it theirs. This place is special and needs to remain a fixture in the community.”83 Parque Zaragoza has played a pivotal role in the civic and cultural lives of Austin’s Mexican American residents since 1931. While most famous as the site of Cinco de Mayo and Diez y Seis de Septiembre celebrations, the park has hosted countless smaller gatherings that have shaped Austin’s cultural identity and sense of place. As a local space for recreation, civic engagement, and health advocacy, the park also facilitated access to essential services for the historically underserved citizens. Most of all, Parque Zaragoza has provided a place where Mexican American voices could be heard, whether raised in protest or lifted in song, declaiming with conviction or shouting with joy. Fiestas Patrias Parque Zaragoza was the nexus of local fiestas patrias, or patriotic holidays, for much of the twentieth century. Sponsored by the comité patriótico, the festivities began as simple park get-togethers where people could reunite, honor their heritage with music and dancing, and relax. As attendance soared, they grew into massive four-day celebrations featuring live music and packed dance floors, speeches by Mexican consuls, extravagant barbecues, and theatrical performances. 78 Kenneth E. Hendrickson, Jr., “National Youth Administration,” Handbook of Texas Online, June 15, 2010, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/ncn04. 79 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 80 City of Austin Recreation Department, 1941 Annual Report. 81 Ulila, “Parque Zaragoza.” 82 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 83 Ibid. Section 8 - Page 20 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Though Tejanos had observed the fiestas patrias with parades, picnics, and speeches since the early 19th century, Parque Zaragoza’s opening expanded Austinites’ opportunities for celebration. Cinco de Mayo commemorates General Ignacio Zaragoza de Seguín’s victory over French invaders at Puebla de los Angeles on May 5, 1862. A Mexican national hero, Zaragoza was born at La Bahía del Espíritu Santo, a settlement near present-day Goliad. His parents moved the family to Matamoros during the Mexican Revolution, and—after brief stints in a seminary and as a mercantile—Zaragoza joined the army. He fought for a democratic and constitutional Mexico throughout the 1850s, honing his skills as a military strategist. At the Battle of Puebla, Zaragoza lost only 86 men, while the French lost between 476 and 1,000.84 El Diez y Seis de Septiembre commemorates Mexico’s independence from Spain. On September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla began the Mexican War of Independence in Dolores (near Guanajuato) by ringing the church bells before sunrise and urging the crowd that gathered to revolt in a speech known as the Grito de Dolores or Grito de Hidalgo.85 In 1931, Parque Zaragoza’s first official Diez y Seis celebration was organized by committee members Frank Rios, Emilio Davila, Luis F. Rivera, Lalo Gonzales, Juan Carillo, Miguel Arredondo, Ignacio Arriago, Gonzalo Hernandez, Lupe L. Brigido, S. Salinas, and Francisco Estrada.86 Today, the three- to four-day celebration begins with el Grito in a traditional retelling of the early-morning revolution. At Parque Zaragoza, the celebration displayed both formality and spontaneity, described in informal interviews by Raath and Ruch: The fiesta operated on a “tribuna libre” basis, with impromptu speeches and poetry recitations celebrating Mexican culture and independence. The fiesta celebrated both Mexican and American patriotism. Attendees sang the anthems of both nations, and the queen’s attendants dressed in the flags of the two countries… The Cinco de Mayo celebration followed much the same formula as the Diez y Seis fiesta, with music, dancing, speeches, and the crowning of the queen.87 As the comités patrióticos of the United States were established under the auspices of the Mexican Consulate, consul representatives sponsored rallies, debates, and similar political events at Parque Zaragoza.88 Sports Neighborhood residents immediately mobilized to help make the new playground a safe and enjoyable place for their children. A 1937 report indicates that the playground had lighting and that a volunteer monitor had been elected.89 As soon as the park opened in 1931, athletes organized a second Mexican American baseball league, replacing the original Lydia Street park’s league.90 Teams from all around the city gathered for games and tournaments at the park, accompanied by food and live music. Originally, the baseball diamond consisted of painted bases on a concrete slab attached to the bandstand.91 The Recreation Department logged significantly higher community attendance at these games 84 “Zaragoza, Ignacio Seguin,” Handbook of Texas Online, June 15, 2010, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fza04. 85 “Diez y Seis,” In the Parks, September 16, 2015, https://www.austintexas.gov/blog/diez-y-seis. 86 “Cry of Dolores,” Library of Congress, 2015, https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/september-16. “Mexicans Complete Plan for Independence Party,” The Austin American, September 13, 1931, p. 2 87 Raath and Ruch, “Parque Zaragoza.” 88 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza”; "Prof Will Speak," The Austin Statesman, June 18, 1940; "Latin Guests at Zaragosa," The Austin Statesman, June 20, 1940; “Zaragosa Rally Slated Tonight For Candidates,” The Austin Statesman, April 1, 1953; “Workers march in support of D.C. rally,” The Austin American Statesman, Sep 6, 1977. 89 City of Austin Recreation Department, 1937 Annual Report. 90 City of Austin Recreation Department, 1931 Monthly Reports; City of Austin Recreation Department, 1931 Annual Report. 91 Raath and Ruch, “Parque Zaragoza.” Section 8 - Page 21 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas than any other league in the city, and constructed bleachers for fans in 1947.92 In 1956, parkgoers rallied to move the field and grandstand to their current locations, adding a softball field along with fences, a scoreboard, and drinking fountains.93 As park use increased—particularly after the pool was built—its spartan amenities proved insufficient. As area schools and playgrounds went undermaintained and underequipped by the city, Zaragoza community advocates planned athletics programs and petitioned the Recreation Department for installation of sports equipment. By the end of the period of significance in 1973, the park held courts for basketball and volleyball, fields for baseball and softball, swim clubs and lessons, and boxing competitions. Arts, Music, and Education The community center’s popularity as an educational venue also grew. Sewing circles, art courses, and hands-on workshops attracted visitors year-round. At the end of each course or project, participants gathered to display their work. These were public events often accompanied by live music, food, and awards ceremonies.94 Theatrical, music, and dance performances also showcased the arts. By learning traditional Mexican music and dance, artists learned, experienced, and promoted cultural cornerstones to their audiences. The park also hosted lecture series and reading groups, led by community leaders or academic professionals volunteering their time.95 In addition to their primary goals of informing listeners and teaching useful skills, these activities brought the neighborhood together. During childcare courses, parents could come together, forming a network of people facing similar challenges, while their children played nearby. These opportunities for connection often proved as important to community enrichment as the information presented in formal courses. Live music played a pivotal role in almost every large-scale community gathering held at Parque Zaragoza. The park has served as a nexus of live Tejano music since its establishment, rooting it in Austin’s robust musical heritage. Gloria Mata Pennington, longtime Parks and Recreation Department staff member, explained the park’s performance legacy: “Early on, Mexican celebrations and fiestas became an important part of the events at the park. Adding to the importance was the live music played by Mexican musicians, including icons of Tejano music like Lydia Mendoza and Manuel ‘Cowboy’ Donley.96 Notable mid-century performers included Junior Gomez and the Sound Pounders, Johnny Gonzales and the Sensations, and the Alfonso Ramos Orchestra.97 Bands from around the world traveled to Austin to play alongside local artists. Conjunto, the predominant style of música tejana showcased at Parque Zaragoza, developed in the early twentieth century among working-class Mexican American musicians who sought to maintain their cultural identity amidst intense pressure to assimilate.98 Conjunto is deeply intertwined with both the park’s history and the history of its neighbors, and has even shaped the park’s landscape: nearby residents and conjunto fans remember a time (probably during the 1950s) when a raised plataforma was installed as a dance floor at the current site of the baseball diamond.99 Belinda Acosta described the 92 “Minutes of the City Council of Austin, Texas,” January 23, 1947, http://www.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=88634 93 Gloria Mata Pennington, “A Living Legacy: Honoring Our Past, Celebrating Our Present, and Creating Our Future – Austin Parks and Recreation Department 1928-2003,” n.d., ftp://ftp.austintexas.gov/PARDPlanningCIP/McKnight_HistoricResources/East_Austin_PARD_resources/PARD_75th_ann_booklet.p df; “Century Club, City Recreation Lead Baseball Planning at Zaragosa Park,” The Austin Statesman, March 22, 1956. 94 City of Austin Recreation Department, 1934-1942 Monthly Reports 95 The Austin Statesman, 1940. 96 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 97 “Zaragosa Features 4 Bands,” Austin American-Statesman, August 10, 1969. 98 Manuel H. Peña, “The Texas-Mexican Conjunto,” in Música Tejana: The Cultural Economy of Artistic Transformation (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1999); Teresa Palomo Acosta, “Texas-Mexican Conjunto,” Handbook of Texas Online, December 5, 2015, http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xbtpa. 99 Abel Salas, “Conjunto Pesado, not Pescado,” The Austin Chronicle, July 14, 1995, https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/1995- Section 8 - Page 22 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas style in a 1995 American-Statesman article on La Pesado, a conjunto festival sponsored by arts nonprofit La Peña: “Conjunto music is a visceral, musically poetic response to the life and times of Mexican Americans in Texas. When one stops to think that many masters of the music—Ybarra, Jimenez, Austin's Johnny Degollado featured at ‘Conjunto Pesado II’—are self-taught, one realizes the gravity of their task to keep and pass on this musical tradition.”100 Other Holiday Gatherings Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and Fourth of July holidays attracted record-breaking crowds to Parque Zaragoza. Each November, nearby residents brought their signature dishes to the park to share a massive holiday potluck with their neighbors. While the Thanksgiving festivities were originally set up in the multipurpose rooms at the bathhouse, they eventually grew so large that partygoers had to sit at tables spread across the bathhouse lawn.101 Christmas brought a nativity pageant and other performances, while Easter was celebrated with a park-wide egg hunt for the neighborhood’s children.102 The Fourth of July drew crowds from around Texas for baseball games, track and swim meets, fireworks, and political speeches.103 Community Health and Wellness Along with recreation and civic meetings, the community space in the bathhouse provided a venue for health and wellness lectures, clinics, and screenings open to the public. According to community elder Alvino Mendoza: “A local doctor held routine medical clinics there, including lectures on tuberculosis…A philanthropic women’s group catering to the poor and infirm in the neighborhood also had headquarters in the park. For many years their dedicated service functioned as a primary form of health care in the neighborhood.”104 For many Austinites, traditional healthcare was difficult to obtain and often viewed with suspicion. Groups that educated lecture attendees on public health issues empowered Mexican American residents to exercise agency when making healthcare decisions.105 Within the context of community wellness, the role of casual recreation cannot be understated. A common thread unites many stakeholder interviews: perhaps among the most meaningful activities for community members that took place at Parque Zaragoza were the countless more intimate, day-to-day events. Walking in the park, swimming in the pool, watching one’s children play on the swing sets, evening baseball or volleyball games, family picnics on the lawn, weekend concerts, anniversary and birthday celebrations.106 By providing a place to enjoy the outdoors with their families and neighbors, Parque Zaragoza’s founders granted East Austin much more than a parcel of land. In the era of segregation, when division and despair intruded upon the everyday lives of Mexican American Austinites, the park offered space for togetherness and belonging. Conclusion Parque Zaragoza fell victim to negligence during the late twentieth century. The wooded parkland became a haven for drug use and violent crime, compounded by inadequate policing. Deferred maintenance took its toll on park amenities, 07-14/533758/; “$338,000 Play Funds Being Examined by City.” The Austin Statesman, July 25, 1950. 100 Belinda Acosta, “Conjunto heats up parque,” The Austin American-Statesman, July 22, 1995, C12. https://infoweb-newsbank- com.atxlibrary.idm.oclc.org/apps/news/document-view?p=NewsBank&docref=news/0EAD97A3989D852A 101 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 102 “Easter Egg Hunt is Planned for Children,” The Austin American, Mar 20, 1932. 103 “Mexican Celebration for July Fourth is Planned, The Austin American, Jun 26, 1932; “Mexicans Plan for July 4 Fete,” The Austin American, June 25, 1939. 104 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” 105 Lopez, interview by author, 2019. 106 Leith, “Parque Zaragoza.” Section 8 - Page 23 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas and visitor numbers diminished. Yet again, the surrounding neighborhoods mobilized to reclaim the park through repairs, cries for reform, public education campaigns, and the construction of a new recreation center. Today, Austinites enjoy Parque Zaragoza as a place to relax, play, swim, and participate in civic and wellness activities. Parque Zaragoza, an epicenter of recreation, togetherness, and grassroots activism in the twentieth century, presents a physical reminder of Mexican American Austinites’ resilience. For decades, it was the most-used outdoor space for Mexican Americans in segregated Austin; today it serves the entire city as a testament to the strength of their voices in the face of systemic oppression. From its wooded landscape to its historic sites, building, and structures, Parque Zaragoza embodies the ideals of its founders, advocates, and volunteers: those who ensured that Mexican Americans in Austin would have a place to celebrate their heritage and preserve their cultural identity through the segregation era and beyond. Section 8 - Page 24 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Bibliography "$338,000 Play Funds Being Examined by City." The Austin Statesman. July 22, 1950. "$656,000 Bonds Burned: Paid-Off City Obligations Destroyed." The Austin Statesman. February 27, 1941. City Council Resolution 410227-4. February 27, 1941. https://austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=87753. The Austin American-Statesman. May 4, 1996. A13. About Parque Zaragoza Neighborhood Park. 2019. http://www.zaragozaparkneighborhoodassn.org/parque-zaragoza-history.html. Acosta, Belinda. "Conjunto heats up parque: The sun discouraged dancing, but the music was magical." The Austin American- Statesman. July 22, 1995. C12. Acosta, Teresa P. Juneteenth. June 15, 2010. https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/lkj01. —. Texas-Mexican Conjunto. December 5, 2015. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/xbtpa. Administrative History. 2014. https://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/taro/aushc/00409/ahc-00409.html. Arnold Garcia, Jr. "Zaragoza Celebration a Grand Time for Community." The Austin American-Statesman. May 4, 1996. A13. Behnken, Brian D. Fighting Their Own Battles: Mexican Americans, African Americans, and the Struggle for Civil Rights in Texas. North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2011. Carr, Ethan. "The ‘Noblest Landscape Problem’: Thomas C. Vint and Landscape Preservation." In Design with Culture: Claiming America's Landscape Heritage, edited by Charles A. Birnbaum, & Mary V. Hughes, 157-177. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2005. City of Austin Recreation Department. 1930 Annual Report. Annual Report, Austin: City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, City of Austin Recreation Department. 1931 Annual Report. Annual Report, Austin: City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, City of Austin Recreation Department. 1937 Annual Report. Annual Report, Austin: City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, City of Austin Recreation Department. 1937 Annual Report. Annual Report, Recreation Department, City of Austin, Austin: City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, 1937. City of Austin Recreation Department. 1941 Annual Report. Recreation Department, City of Austin, Austin: City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, 1941. City of Austin Recreation Department. May 1934. Monthly Report, Austin: City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, 1934. City of Austin Recreation Department. September 1934. Monthly Report, Austin: City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, 1930. 1931. 1937. 1934. Covo, Amanda, Deborah Sengupta Stith, and Michael Barnes. The History of Rosewood Park. February 5, 2020. https://austinparks.org/history-of-rosewood-park. Cry of Dolores. 2015. https://www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/september-16. Diez y Seis. September 16, 2015. https://www.austintexas.gov/blog/diez-y-seis. "Easter Egg Hunt is Planned for Children." The Austin American. March 20, 1932. Forsyth, Mark. "Parque Zaragoza." Texas Architect, n.d.: 44. Freeman, Martha Doty. East Austin Multiple Resource Area. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1985. Section 9 - Page 25 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Fugate, Tally D. National Youth Adminstration. n.d. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=NA014. García, María-Cristina. Comité Patriótico Mexicano. June 15, 2010. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pqc03. Greenhill, Sharon E. Impact of Central City Revitalization on East Austin -- Austin, Texas. Austin: The University of Texas, 1980. Hardy-Heck-Moore, Incorporated. East Austin Historic Resources Survey. Vol. 1. 4 vols. Austin, Texas: City of Austin, 2016. Hasan, Syeda. Staring Down Development, Neighbors Seek Historical Recognition for Emancipation Park. January 19, 2017. https://www.kut.org/post/staring-down-development-neighbors-seek-historical-recognition-emancipation-park. Hernandez, Nina. Austin's Pool System Will Collapse if We Don't Save It. June 1, 2018. https://www.austinchronicle.com/news/2018- 06-01/austins-pool-system-will-collapse-if-we-dont-save-it. Home Owners' Loan Corporation. "Residential Security Map." Austin: University of Texas, 1935. Humphrey, David C. Austin, TX (Travis County). October 13, 2018. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hda03. Leith, Andrew. Parque Zaragoza. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, University of Texas, Austin: Unpublished, "Latin Guests at Zaragosa." The Austin Statesman. June 20, 1940. 2014. Lopez, René, interview by Author. (2019). "Lulacs Plan Soldier Party." The Austin Statesman. July 2, 1943. Massing-Harris, Jen, interview by Author. (February 2020). McClelland, Linda F. Historic Park Landscapes in National and State Parks. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1995, Section E. McDonald, Jason. Racial Dynamics in Early Twentieth-Century Austin, Texas. Plymouth: Lexington Books, 2012. Mendoza, Alvino, interview by Ethan Raath. Austin: Unpublished, (November 18, 2014). "Mexican Celebration for July Fourth is Planned." The Austin American. June 26, 1932. "Mexicans Complete Plan for Independence Party." The Austin American. September 13, 1931. 2. "Mexicans Plan For July 4 Fete: Varied Program To Be Held at Zaragosa." The Austin American. June 25, 1939. "Minutes of the City Council of Austin, Texas." February 19, 1931. "Minutes of the City Council of Austin, Texas." January 23, 1947. "Minutes of the City Council of Austin, Texas." January 23, 1931. "New Consul to Address Latin Colony." The Austin Statesman. May 5, 1942. Orozco, Cynthia E. League of United Latin American Citizens. June 15, 2010. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/wel0. Overfelt, Robert C. Mexican Revolution. June 15, 2010. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/pqmhe. Peña, Manuel H. "The Texas-Mexican Conjunto." In Música Tejana: The Cultural Economy of Artistic Transformation, by Manuel H. Peña. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1999. Pennington, Glora M. "A Living Legagy: Honoring our Past, Celebrating our Present, and Creating our Future -- Austin Parks and Recreation Department 1928-2003." n.d. Preservation Central, Inc. "Historic/Archeological Research on Republic Square." Austin Parks Foundation, Austin, 2002. "Prof Will Speak." The Austin Statesman. June 18, 1940. Section 9 - Page 26 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Raath, Ethan A., and Jennifer E. Ruch. Parque Zaragoza, 1931-Present. Texas Historical Marker Nomination, Texas State University, San Marcos: Unpublished, 2014. Recreation Department Board Meeting Minutes, 1930-1933. Parks and Recreation Board Records, Parks and Recreation, City of Austin, Austin: Austin History Center, 1930-1933. "Report on PARD desegregation." n.d. Salas, Abel. Conjunto Pesado, not Pescado. December 15, 1995. https://www.austinchronicle.com/music/1995-07-14/533758/. Sheffield, Beverly S. "Neighborhood EJ." Planning Ahead for Recreation in Austin: A Study of Present and Future Needs of the Parks and Recreation System in Austin, Texas, 1951-1960. City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, 1951. —. "Operating Playgrounds and Play Centers." Planning Ahead for Recreation in Austin: A Study of Present and Future Needs of the Parks and Recreation System in Austin, Texas, 1951-1960. City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, 1951. Smyrl, Vivian E. Travis County. September 2, 2016. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hct08. Steely, James W. The Civilian Conservation Corps in Texas State Parks. Austin: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, 1986. "Survey Ordered for New Tennis Courts Given City." The Austin Statesman. January 24, 1947. Thomas Chalmers Vint: Cornelius Amory Pugsley National Medal Award, 1955. 2006. https://web.archive.org/web/20061019081818/http://www.rpts.tamu.edu/pugsley/Vint.htm. "Travis County Warranty Deed, April 23, 1931." Austin: Austin History Center, April 23, 1931. Ulila, Vangie Cheryl. Parque Zaragoza. National Register of Historic Places, University of Texas, Austin: Unpublished, 2018. Wooldridge Square. n.d. https://tclf.org/landscapes/wooldridge-square (accessed May 2020). "Workers march in support of D.C. rally." The Austin American Statesman. September 6, 1977. "Zaragosa Features 4 Bands." The Austin American-Statesman. August 10, 1969. "Zaragosa Rally Slated Tonight For Candidates." The Austin Statesman. April 1, 1953. Zaragoza, Ignacio Seguin. June 15, 2010. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fza04. "Zargosa Fete Draws 2,000." The Austin Statesman. May 6, 1948. Section 9 - Page 27 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Google Earth Map Accessed November 8, 2021. Map - Page 28 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Buildings and structures within parcel bounds. Contributing resource names are highlighted in red. Map - Page 29 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Austin Parks and Recreation Department asset and trail map. Map - Page 30 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Black and Mexican American Households, 1910 and 1940. City of Austin Human Relations Commission, 1979; from Austin Restricted: Progressivism, Zoning, Private Racial Covenants, and the Making of a Segregated City, Eliot M. Tretter Figures - Page 31 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas 1935 “redlining” map. Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, 1935. National Archives, Record Group 145, Austin Texas Folder, via the University of Texas Libraries, http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/historic_tex_cities.html#austin Figures - Page 32 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Parque Zaragoza Creek Realignment Study and Sprinkler System, July 1, 1970. Austin History Center. Figures - Page 33 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Neighborhood EJ. Sheffield, Beverly S., in “Planning Ahead for Recreation in Austin: A study of present and future needs of the Parks and Recreation System in Austin, Texas, 1951-1960.” City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, 1951. Figures - Page 34 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Neighborhood EJ. Sheffield, Beverly S., “Planning Ahead for Recreation in Austin: A study of present and future needs of the Parks and Recreation System in Austin, Texas, 1951-1960.” City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, 1951. Figures - Page 35 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas 1940 aerial view of Parque Zaragoza. 1958 aerial view of Parque Zaragoza. Figures - Page 36 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas 1965 aerial view of Parque Zaragoza. 1977 aerial view of Parque Zaragoza. Figures - Page 37 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas “Mexicans to Donate Labor on Playground,” The Austin American, 1931, Austin History Center. “Zaragosa Park Billed for Opening This Week,” The Austin American, May 28, 1933. Figures - Page 38 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Monthly Report, May 1934. Austin Parks and Recreation Department. Figures - Page 39 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas “Mexican Groups Friday To Begin Observance.” The Austin Statesman, September 14, 1934. Figures - Page 40 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas “Mexicans Plan Big Celebration: Festivities to Start Here Tuesday,” The Austin American, September 13, 1936. Figures - Page 41 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas “Zaragosa Club Members Many,” The Austin Statesman, June 24, 1937. Figures - Page 42 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas “Mexicans Will Hold Big Fête: Thousands Expected for Dance,” The Austin American, August 21, 1938. “Latin Guests At Zaragosa.” The Austin Statesman, June 20, 1940, p. 13. Figures - Page 43 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas City Council Resolution 410227-4, February 27, 1941, https://austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=87753 Figures - Page 44 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas “Candidates Asked To Zaragosa Rally,” The Austin Statesman, July 14, 1950. Figures - Page 45 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas “Zaragosa Rally Slated Tonight For Candidates.” The Austin Statesman, Apr 1, 1953. Figures - Page 46 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas “Cinco de Mayo To Begin At Zaragosa on Thursday,” The Austin Statesman, May 4, 1955. Figures - Page 47 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas “Century Club, City Recreation Lead Baseball Planning at Zaragosa Park,” The Austin Statesman, March 22, 1956. Figures - Page 48 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Comíte Patriótico Mexicano. Standing, left to right: Pedro Cortez Suarez, Severino Guerra, and Frank Prado. Seated, left to right: Macrino Ortiz, Ignacio Arriaga, Frank Morales, and Ignacio Acosta. Dated April 3, ca.1930s. Austin History Center: Austin Files – Parks, P1200(31), Zaragoza. PICA 20328. Figures - Page 49  United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Swimming pool construction, ca. 1933. Jen Massing-Harris, “Parque Zaragoza Neighborhood Park Pool & Bathhouse Caretaker Cottage Updates,” September 24, 2019, http://www.zaragozaparkneighborhoodassn.org/neighborhood-nose- sniffing-out-the-scoops-for-the-east-austin-parque-zaragoza-community Figures - Page 50 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Boggy Creek and west footbridge, dated 1934. Austin History Center: Austin Files - Parks, P1200(31), Zaragoza. PICA 18241. Photo of Boggy Creek and east footbridge with original bandstand in background, dated 1934. Austin History Center: Austin Files – Parks, P1200(31), Zaragoza. PICA 18242. Figures - Page 51 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Park grounds dated April 3, 1939. Austin History Center: Austin Files – Parks, P1200(31), Zaragoza. PICA 24231. Bathhouse construction dated February 7, 1941. Austin History Center: Austin Files – Parks, P1200(31), Zaragoza. Figures - Page 52 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Crowd at Parque Zaragoza festival with food and retail stalls in background, n.d. Austin History Center and University of North Texas, Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth124548. Figures - Page 53 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Bathhouse conversion to community center, April 1950. Austin History Center: Austin Files - Parks, P1200(31), Zaragoza. Figures - Page 54 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Play slab/basketball court dated April 8, 1950. Austin History Center: Austin Files – Parks, P1200(31), Zaragoza. Figures - Page 55  United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Aerial photo of East Austin, looking south, January 11, 1958. Parque Zaragoza is in the center-right foreground with baseball diamond and pool/bathhouse. Austin History Center and University of North Texas, Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth19192/m1/1/?q=%22zaragoza%20park%22. Figures - Page 56 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Swimming pool and bathhouse, 1968. Austin History Center: Austin Files – Parks, P1200(31), Zaragoza. PICA 37827. Figures - Page 57 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Play slab and original bandstand, n.d. Austin History Center: Austin Files – Parks, P1200(31), Zaragoza. Figures - Page 58 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Original bandstand interior. Hanging linens may be associated with one of the community center’s sewing circles. Austin History Center: Austin Files – Parks, Zaragoza. P1200(31), PICA 20327. Figures - Page 59 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Children’s arts and crafts class, n.d. City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department. Figures - Page 60 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Bathhouse interior gateways (2014 photo by Andrew Leith) Photos - Page 61 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Bathhouse interior, west room (2014 photo by Andrew Leith) Photos - Page 62 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photographs Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photographed March 2022 by Gregory Smith Photo 1 Bathhouse and Pool Camera facing east Photos - Page 63 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 2 Bathhouse arched entrances Camera facing east Photos - Page 64 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 3 Bathhouse west arched entrance Camera facing east Photos - Page 65 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 4 Bathhouse east elevation Camera facing northwest Photos - Page 66 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 5 Bathhouse south gated doorway Camera facing north Photos - Page 67 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 6 South wing bathhouse interior Camera facing north Photos - Page 68 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 7 Pool Camera facing southwest Photos - Page 69 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 8 Baseball field, from east fence Camera facing west Photos - Page 70 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 9 Baseball field, from west fence Camera facing southeast Photos - Page 71 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 10 Baseball stands Camera facing west Photos - Page 72 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 11 Baseball stands Camera facing south Photos - Page 73 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 12 Basketball Court and Bandstand Camera facing south Photos - Page 74 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 13 Bandstand Camera facing south Photos - Page 75 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 14 Creek with west bridge Camera facing northwest Photos - Page 76 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 15 Creek with east bridge Camera facing southeast Photos - Page 77 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 16 Creek with west bridge and baseball field Camera facing south Photos - Page 78 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 17 Picnic area Camera facing east Photos - Page 79 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places REGISTRATION FORM NPS Form 10-900 OMB No. 1024-0018 Parque Zaragoza, Austin, Travis County, Texas Photo 18 1996 Recreation Center Camera facing north - end - Photos - Page 80