On July 16, 1952, the city dedicated its newest and largest park on Gollihar Road near Weber. The 20 acre site had once been a part of the Gollihar Sanitary Landfill. It was given the name “Evelyn Price Park”.
The park became a huge sports complex that included several Little League baseball and softball fields, a Teenage League field, and a youth football field.
The park’s namesake was Mrs. Evelyn Wilson Price.
She was born in W. Virginia in 1900. In 1921, she married Dr. William Armstrong Price, a Professor of Geology. The couple moved to Corpus Christi in 1930, where Mrs. Price would immediately become involved in the civic affairs of the city.
She became the President of the League of Women Voters, President of the Corpus Christi Council of Garden Clubs, and Chairman of the City Parks and Recreation Board. In her role as chairman of the Park’s Board, she fought tirelessly for the creation of more city parks and for projects aimed at beautifying the city of Corpus Christi.
It was she who convinced the City Council to pass an ordinance requiring developers to set aside 3% of the land in any new subdivision toward the creation of a neighborhood park.
Under Mrs. Price’s leadership, the city added 19 new parks, including Ben Garza Park and the T.C. Ayers Community Center.
As Chairman of the “Civic Beautification Association” (the “CBA”), it was Mrs. Price who demanded that the City Council landscape and develop the T-heads, all of which were still barren more than 10 years after they were created in 1941. The result was landscaping, trees planted, benches installed, roadways and parking lots built, and a band shell and square dance pavilion installed on one of them.
It was her Association that raised money to plant hundreds of pink oleanders along Shoreline Drive and to sod Louisiana Parkway from Ocean Drive to Santa Fe. She and her group also succeeded in having the city condemn and remove slum housing at the north end of Shoreline.
In 1950, Mrs. Price entered Corpus Christi in the Better Homes and Gardens “More Beautiful America Contest”. Corpus Christi won the contest and Better Homes and Gardens Magazine awarded $2,000 to the CBA for its efforts to beautify the city. Mrs. Price donated the $2,000 for the replanting of 220 palm trees along Shoreline Drive that had been killed in a 1951 freeze.
An August 1951 article in Better Homes and Gardens entitled “You Can’t Stop Corpus Christi” recognized Mrs. Price and her CBA group.
It was also Mrs. Price who convinced the City Council to pass an ordinance preventing the erection of large business signs along Shoreline Drive, an ordinance that exists to this day.
Evelyn Wilson Price, who changed the face of Corpus Christi’s bayfront, would pass away on July 22, 1963 at the age of 62. Her successful efforts to make Corpus Christi a cleaner, more beautiful place to live is perhaps her greatest legacy. KRIS-TV honored her legacy with a documentary special on her life that aired in 1966.
Robert Parks is a special contributor to KRIS 6 News. Parks was a history teacher at Carroll High School for 19 years and is now retired. His knowledge of Corpus Christi history makes him a unique expert in the subject.
