HOUSTON — Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis announced plans for Remembrance Park during a Juneteenth community gathering on Saturday, June 20. The 5.8-acre memorial greenspace is planned along Buffalo Bayou in downtown Houston.

During the gathering, concept designs for the park were presented, and historical markers honoring four men lynched in Harris County between 1890 and 1928 were unveiled. The markers honor John Walton, Bert Smith, John White and Robert Powell.

The planned park will connect three city blocks using art, native landscaping, and shaded gathering areas. County Commissioners approved a plan in 2020 to transform Quebedeaux Park and the surrounding block into a memorial center. The project, partially inspired by the Equal Justice Initiative's Community Remembrance Project, will feature eight interconnected spaces, including Witness Grove, Memory Pavilion, Hush Harbor Gardens, Remembrance Courtyard, Cypress Grove, Canopy, Bayou Mirror, and Bayou Overlook and Terraces. The Memory Pavilion will be a sunken sculpture garden built on the former site of The Rice Home and Plantation, and the design incorporates a stormwater-collecting depression to reflect the bayou's pre-development landscape.

"Remembrance Park is about remembering honestly and carrying that memory forward." Commissioner Ellis said. "This project will transform a place shaped by history into an inclusive greenspace for reflection, learning and gathering."

The public presentation was held at the County Administration Building at 1001 Preston Street, where the ceremony began at 8:30 a.m. The park layout is designed to align with the Downtown Houston Public Realm Action Plan.

No independent assessment was available for this report.