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River Legacy Park is an urban oasis that features different habitats for wildlife and walking trails for people to enjoy nature. (Courtesy photo | City of Arlington)
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As part of Arlington’s celebration of the 100th anniversary of the city’s first park, it plans to open its 100th park, which will appropriately be named Centennial Park.

Meadowbrook Park and Meadowbrook Park Golf Course opened in 1924 as Arlington’s first city park, and to commemorate the centennial, the city has planned a calendar of events, self-led activities, historical features, spotlights, giveaways and more. Later this year, the department will have a ribbon-cutting for a new destination playground at Meadowbrook Park and will open the new Active Adult Center at Centennial Park.

“It’s not every year that you get to celebrate 100 years of anything,” Parks and Recreation Director James Orloski said. “It’s a really cool moment in history and a chance for us to look back and celebrate accomplishments and the people of the past, but also look forward to the future and start to turn the page and explore what’s in the next 100 years.”

Orloski noted that the city’s library celebrated its centennial last year, and he said that Meadowbrook Park’s opening in 1924 was the genesis of what is now a parks system that is extensively used and has received national recognition.

“That was the birthplace of the park system,” Orloski said of Meadowbrook Park. The first parks director, Melvin Shanks, came about more than 30 years later. Shanks served from 1957 to 1984.

Because Arlington is nearly built out, Orloski said, the city will look at ways of improving existing facilities as well as opportunities for new locations.

“We’re not in the habit of annexing and adding to it like Fort Worth or some others may, so that’s a good thing in some ways,” Orloski said of the city’s available land for parks. “It’s a challenge in other ways.”

Orloski said the first 100 years have given the city a solid foundation to build on and grow.

“For the next 100 years, there is going to be some growth as we approach build out, building the things that our residents want and expect and the amenities that they need,” he said. 

Meadowbrook Park and Meadowbrook Park Golf Course opened 100 years ago in Arlington as the city’s first park. (Courtesy photo | City of Arlington)

Now, Orloski said it’s time to take care of parks and facilities the city already has established.

“The flip side of that, though, is taking care of what we already have, and so that’s a pivot that we’ve been making in recent years,” Orloski said. “We as a community have had our boom times. We’ve built, we’ve expanded, we’ve grown, and now it’s about the importance of how to take care of what we currently have and maintain what we currently have and keep the service levels.”

But there’s one more park that’s getting special attention this year.

“We do have 99 parks currently, with plans to open our 100th park later this year,” Orloski said. “We’re kind of taking advantage of being a centennial and when we open the Active Adult Center, we’re going to consider the park that surrounds that building as the 100th park and the plan is to call that Centennial Park.”

The Active Adult Center is expected to open in the winter and will offer programs and amenities for adults ages 50 and older. It’s at the southeast corner of Green Oaks Boulevard between West Arkansas Lane and West Pioneer Parkway.

The city said that amenities at the center are expected to include a full-court gymnasium, an aquatics component for both water exercise and leisure, locker rooms, a fitness area, walking track, multipurpose rooms for educational programs and events or sedentary activities, special events space and an outdoor patio.

In fact, parks, rec centers and playgrounds are spread all across the city, and Orloski noted that River Legacy Park in north Arlington is considered a crown jewel in the parks system.

River Legacy Park

Orloski called River Legacy a “total oasis in the middle of one of the biggest cities and metros in the entire country.”

He said what makes it special is that “you can drive 15 or 20 minutes from just about anywhere in the city and get to a really unique, special place.”

Orloski said that improvements at River Legacy will begin in the next year.

Arlington considers the 1,300-acre River Legacy Park an urban oasis that traces the Trinity River. Its ecological diversity includes bottomland forest, wetlands and prairie that provide abundant habitat for myriad birds, fish, mammals and native plants. 

It’s also home to the River Legacy Nature Center that’s noted for its educational programs.

Orloski said the city is working on some improvements and realignment of River Legacy’s existing trail system.

“It’s already a really iconic special place in our city, but we’re going to get even better,” he said. “Basically, we’re going to be connecting with Fort Worth’s trail system to the west, doing a joint project with them so that our River Legacy Trails will connect with their Trinity Trails.”

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