Metz Park Austin - Erin Corrigan

Metz Park is located in East Austin, south of Cesar Chavez at 62 Pedernales Street and is 5 acres. It is tucked back in a neighborhood and backs up against the river and Fiesta Gardens. It's very much a neighborhood park though it offers the services of a much wider-serving park.

The park is visited by members of the direct community for it's pool, picnic tables and basketball courts and is visited on a larger scale for it's meet-up style classes. There are classes for crochet, karate, cheer leading, fishing and more. I have personally visited for an open air production of Ghost Busters: The Musical! So, the park has a wide reach in terms of activities.

The land for the park was acquired in 1933 and the present facility was built in 1972 through a "model cities" fund and was added to through the 80s. It is named after the adjacent school.  In 2004, the Austin Chronicle named it "Best place to show your kids an industrial view". Thanks, Austin Chronicle!

The park serves to create a tightly bonded community in the area. There are a few parks, pools, and schools nearby. This means that neighborhoods are highly concentrated and the park can serve at a high capacity a small group of citizens relative to it's size.
The facilities built with money from the Model Cities Fund were meant to jump start civic efficacy in minority neighborhoods. Certainly this played a part in Metz's mission, though I haven't been able to find a specific mission.


I'm including a link though it doesn't specifically address the park.
http://www.preservationaustin.org/uploads/Tejano_Trail_revised2013.pdf