The park will include flexible green space, a playground, an event space, and a 12,000-square-foot skate park Credit: Photo Courtesy Dunaway Associates

After two decades of setbacks, San Antonio is about to get a new park.

Adjacent to the Hays Street Bridge on San Antonio’s East Side, the Berkley V. and Vincent M. Dawson Park will offer attractions including a skate park, open green space and a playground.

The public space, located at 803 North Cherry St. in Dignowity Hill, is situated across from Alamo Beer Co. Planning delays and a legal battle left the park in limbo for two decades, but those days finally appear to be over. The office of District 2 Councilman Jalen McKee and San Antonio Parks & Recreation Department officials told MySA that a grand opening will take place sometime this fall.

Officials also told the online publication the 1.7-acre park is “90% ready” and is just waiting on CPS Energy to finish the lighting in the park. Though the park — along with the skate areas and other amenities — will be open soon, the playground won’t make its debut until January.

The skate park will have two separate skate areas — one for advanced skaters and one for beginners, according to Connie Swann, marketing manager for SA Parks & Recreation, who shared details with the Current.

The Berkley V. and Vincent M. Dawson Park’s other features will include an open green space intended for movie nights and picnics. A bike rack, bike repair station, seating areas and informational signage on the history of the Hays Street Bridge also feature in the design. While the name of the park is a little long and unwieldy, it’s named after the land’s donors. Brothers Berkley and Vincent Dawson, the former owners of the Anheuser-Busch distributor BudCo Ltd., donated the land to the city in 2007 to be turned into a park carrying their name. Instead, the City of San Antonio sold the land to a private developer in 2012, who planned to turn it into a multi-story apartment complex. In 2019, the Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of local activists who sued the city, arguing that the land was destined for public use, not a developer’s. The city and developer eventually agreed to a land swap that would move the apartment complex less than a mile away and allow the park to be created, fulfilling the wishes of both the Dawson brothers and outspoken members of the community.

One such activist was late engineer Douglas Steadman, who led the charge to save the park along with his nonprofit the Hays Street Bridge Restoration group, as reported by the Express-News. In its lawsuit, the group cited a 2002 agreement stating that the land was to be used as a park.

As an engineer, Steadman found the Hays Street Bridge remarkable for its trusses, which are similar to the Eiffel Tower’s but predate it by several years. Steadman began fighting to preserve the structure in 1999, starting a fund to make repairs. He secured its designation as a Texas historical civil engineering landmark in 2001.

Steadman died in 2018 before he could see the project through to its completion. On his deathbed, he made his son Darryl Steadman promise to continue the fight, according to the daily. Steadman, among other pivotal figures in the park’s story, will be honored with signage in the park.

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This article appears in Oct 16-29, 2024.

Stephanie Koithan is the Digital Content Editor of the San Antonio Current. In her role, she writes about politics, music, art, culture and food. Send her a tip at skoithan@sacurrent.com.