Bunche Park

Dedication

1954

Size

10.1 acres

Additional amenities

Benches
Fitness station
Park lighting
Playground
Shelter
Tables
Trail

Fun facts

Bunche Park is a 10 acre park located in the Carver Heights neighborhood. Within recent years, Bunche Park received a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant to add amenities and improvements to the park including trails, a group shelter, benches and picnic tables. Funding for the playground and fitness stations was provided via corporate donations and the Blue Zones initiative. In a statement released by Matt Dufrene, Vice President of Blue Zones Project, Fort Worth stated "We know that the world's longest living people don't need to go to gyms and do intense workouts every day. They live in environments that encourage movement and surround themselves with healthy-minded friends. This park will allow Stop Six families to get out and move naturally and ultimately contribute to a higher quality of life for the entire community."

History

Carver Heights was developed in the early 1950s as a suburban residential enclave for Fort Worth’s upwardly mobile African American community. Fort Worth’s neighborhoods and parks were still segregated by race at this time and the city acquired parkland to serve this new neighborhood. The park, located between Dunbar Middle School and Dunbar High School, is another example of the post-war effort to locate parks and schools on the same tract. At the suggestion of the Rosedale Park Civic League, the park board authorized naming the park after Ralph Bunche in May 1954. Bunche (1904-1971) was the first African American to be a division head in the U. S. Department of State. For his work as the principal secretary of the U.N. Palestine Commission (1947), he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950. A shelter house was constructed in the park (c. 1957) and a swimming pool in 1960. The engineer for the pool project was Robin Llewellyn and the landscape architect was the firm of Carter and Burgess. These features are no longer present. The park had several capital improvements in 2019.

Recreation

During 2018 - 2019, construction of a 7/10 mile cement loop trail and playground were completed. The trail includes plaza-style convergence with benches, providing a place to rest while waiting at the public bus stop on Ramey Avenue. Sandwiched between the two public schools, the park provides connection through the hiking trail, playground, and shade.

Geology

The geology of the park is terrace deposits (sand, silt, clay, and gravel) laid down during the Pleistocene and Holocene an ancient shoreline.

Soils

The soil of the park is of the Ponder series, which consists of deep, moderately well drained permeable soils formed during the Cretaceous Period in a marine environment. This soil series is only found in a narrow band following I-35 from just south of Cleburne to north of Denton.

Ecology

The ecology of the park is a basic lawn setting with common plants observed being many non-native lawn weeds. Of native species interest is corn gromwell (Buglossoides arvensis). This plant prefers disturbed areas so frequent mowing is not a problem for the gromwell. Trees within the park include hackberry, mesquite and live oak. During the construction of the trail, almost all of the trees within the park were preserved. Due to the urban nature of the park, a stormwater channel (Dillard Channel) runs diagonally separating the school property to the southwest and the park. The park serves as a water overflow, absorption, and detention area during flooding. The channel eventually drains to Lake Arlington. Bunche Park provides crucial stormwater conveyance, filtering, and purifying services prior to floodwaters reaching Lake Arlington. Of the original trees within the park, a total of fifty-one trees have been preserved and incorporated into the landscape of the park. Many of these trees are located along the newly built trails within the park which provide shade for park visitors and aesthetic appeal to the overall character of the park. The southwest corner of the park also serves as watershed for surface runoff from the park and from the neighboring Dunbar High School into the creek that is present in that areas. The creek was reinforced as part of the capital improvement projects and allows for higher water flows to drain into the storm water channel just south of the park.

View animal, plant and insect species observed at Bunche Park and make some of your own observations through iNaturalist. See link under the "Related information" Section.

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