{"nrhp_refnum":"97000544","name":"Independence Park","other_names":["James McCullough Park"],"category":"site","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by 1000 Blk. of E. 40th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Houston","county":"Harris County","state":"TX","lat":29.82266406900004,"lon":-95.38651287799996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1997-06-04","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Black"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A community park site of about eight lots in the 1000 block of East 40th Street in Independence Heights, Houston, Harris County, Texas, set aside in 1910 by the Wright Land Company.","why_significant":"It is the only public space remaining from the early years of Independence Heights. It served as the main community gathering place for churches, schools and Juneteenth celebrations. It is a rare example of park provision and planning for African Americans, at a time when few public parks were open to them.","narrative":"Independence Park is a large open space of roughly eight lots in the 1000 block of East 40th Street in the Independence Heights neighborhood of Houston. The Wright Land Company set it aside in 1910 as a community park for the subdivision's residents. It became the principal meeting place for the community, hosting church gatherings, school activities and annual Juneteenth celebrations. During the 1910s and 1920s, African Americans in Houston had few public parks open to them, and segregation of public spaces was written into local ordinance in 1922. Dedicated park land in a Black community was uncommon. The City of Houston renamed it James McCullough Park after annexing the area in 1929. Today the park remains largely undeveloped, with mature deciduous trees in its western half. The city has recently added a basketball court, baseball field and playground equipment, though these do not detract from its open character. It is the only public space surviving from the early years of Independence Heights.","period_of_significance":"1910-1947","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"No style","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Still used for outdoor recreation; a basketball court, baseball field and playground equipment were recently added by the City of Houston.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:23.188674-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/65/9694/40969465/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/97000544.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000544/dd31d07e1f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/97000544/dd31d07e1f-1600.webp","licence":"CC0","author":"0x0077BE","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McCullough_Park_-_04_-_Grill_and_Sign.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">0x0077BE</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/deed.en\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McCullough_Park_-_04_-_Grill_and_Sign.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40969465","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McCullough_Park_(Houston)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6016147"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/harris-county/independence-park-97000544/"}