The roots of Dallas’ Reverchon Park
Known for its extensive fields, outdoor spaces and recreation center, Reverchon Park has had its name since 1914. The park’s story tells of a hunting area, slum and mineral well that were on the same property.
The Dallas Morning News archives provide a backstory on the park grounds and the park’s relationship with world-renowned botanist Julien Reverchon.
Arrival of the Reverchons in Dallas
Headline of a story published in the Dallas Morning News on August 28, 1932.(The Dallas Morning News)
In 1857 Maximilian Reverchon and his 18-year-old son Julien left their family in France and immigrated to Dallas to join French, Belgian, and Swiss colonists on Reunion Island – a utopian socialist community that settled on the southwest bank of the Trinity River. Upon arrival in Dallas, the Reverchons learned that Reunion Island was disintegrating due to a lack of guidance and ignorance of the growing conditions in North Texas. Maximilian bought farmland and a house known as Rose Cottage for himself and his son in what is now Oak Cliff.
Botanical bravura
Julien, or Jules, immersed himself in nature at a young age, his surname suited him to a T: “Reverchon” means “a dark red variety of sweet cherries” in French. When he emigrated from France, Julien had collected over 2,000 species of plants and left them in the care of his brothers. In his early days in Dallas, Julien studied the new and unfamiliar vegetation around him and eventually traveled through Texas to collect plant samples from the state’s various ecoregions.
Original plant pressings from Julien Reverchon who has documented thousands of native plants in Texas. Photo from the Botanical Research Institute of Texas at Fort Worth on July 31, 2003.(Natalie Caudill)
During his lifetime, Julien kept thousands of Texas flora and botanical specimens from around the world in his Oak Cliff cottage, and later his herbaria found their way into various institutions and museums, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Missouri Botanical Gardens in St. Louis.
Julien married Marie Henry in 1864 and they had two sons who both died of typhus in 1884. Marie died in 1901. Julien was a professor of botany at Baylor Medical College for 10 years. He died in 1905.
The roots of the park
In 1914, the city of Dallas purchased 36 acres of land that was bisected by Turtle Creek for $ 31,128. When the city bought the property, it was initially called Turtle Creek Park, and in June 1915 the name was changed to Reverchon Park after the famous Dallas botanist.
Before becoming a city park, the area was known as Woodchuck Hill and Raccoon Springs, which were known for their reputation as a slum and popular hunting ground, respectively.
Photo of Woodchuck Hills Cottages, 1910. Courtesy of the Dallas Municipal Archives, provided by the University of North Texas Portal to Texas History.(Unknown)
A decade before Reverchon Park was founded came Gill Well, an artesian well drilled in the northwest of Woodchuck Hill. The contract for Gill Well included provisions for a bathhouse owned by Gill Well Sanitarium Co. and free public wells for residents to fetch water from.
Photograph of the Gill Well Bath House on Maple Avenue. Employee photo published in the Dallas Morning News January 13, 1907.(Clogenson)
While the fountain supposedly supplied hot medicinal mineral water, the bathhouse was closed in the early 1920s when toxic amounts of “chloride, lithium, magnesium, potassium, and sulfate, among others” were discovered.
Park extensions
In the 1920s, Reverchon debuted a baseball field, seen to the right on the Dallas North Tollway, heading north. In 1924, a 300-seat wooden grandstand was added to the field, and by the mid-1930s the Diamant, Homeplate, and Grandstand were all rotated.
The Dallas Sox gather around their dugout and wait for their game to begin. Employee photo from July 23, 1995.(Louis DeLuca)
Over the years this clay court has hosted many Dallas Amateur Baseball Association, Dallas Independent School District, SMU, and youth baseball games. The 18-member DABA league in particular used wooden sticks at all games.
The centuries-old baseball field still stands, although its decaying field is unplayable. Former general manager of the Dallas Mavericks, Donnie Nelson, and other private investors initially spearheaded efforts to give the parks a facelift, but after its funding failed in 2020, DISD was able to raise $ 25, thanks to approval of the 2020 bond package -Dollars put aside, the cloak will take over millions for the redevelopment project.
The converted course should be playable in spring 2022.
Photo of the newly minted Iris Bowl published in The Dallas Morning News on April 20, 1938.(The Dallas Morning News)
A ray of morning light hits the Iris Bowl in Reverchon Park. Employee photo from April 9, 2015.(GJ McCarthy / staff photographer)
In the 1930s, the city directed New Deal funds for stonework that scattered the park, including stone stairwells and lookouts, an amphitheater called the Iris Bowl, and a bridge over Turtle Creek.
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