Meadowbrook Park has a comfortable, lived-in feel. There’s a
reason. It’s been around longer than any other Arlington park. In
fact, Meadowbrook Park is bursting with firsts: first park in the
city, first public outdoor pool, first golf course, first site of an
indoor recreation center.
Many people who use the park’s picnic grounds, basketball courts,
walking trails and 9-hole golf course think the park got its name
from the neighborhood surrounding it. Nope. According to Arlington
Historian Geraldine Mills, the park was there before the
neighborhood.
“We’ve never come across anything that says exactly why it was
named Meadowbrook except the fact that there’s a meadow and creek,”
Mills said.
The 52 acres that make up this slice of greenery were purchased
by the City of Arlington in 1923 for $5,200. Its official opening
was the following year. Located just east of downtown off Abram
Street, Meadowbrook Park remains a well-populated park with
residents enjoying its picnic grounds, playground, lighted
basketball court, fully covered pavilion and horseshoe pits that
feature local matches on Tuesdays and Saturdays and even regional
tournaments.
Meadowbrook once had the only softball diamond in the city. Mills
said the ninth hole once crossed through the diamond and golfers
would yield to the softball players during summer evening hours. The
golfers instead played a short ninth hole.
The 13,000-square-foot Meadowbrook Recreation Center was built on
the northern edge of the park in 1964. In 1998, with funds
identified from a previous bond election, the park was completely
renovated.
Bradley Leonard enjoys playing basketball on the recreation
center’s court. “There’s no other court like this in the city in
terms of feeling real airy,” he said of the large windows. “It makes
you feel like you’re playing basketball outside.”
Visit www.naturallyfun.org
for information on Meadowbrook Park or any other Arlington park.
