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The City of Bellaire has some new green space called Evelyn’s Park. While a new park might not be that big of a story, it has a slightly different origin story.
For a century, a spot at the corner of Bellaire Boulevard and Newscastle Drive in southwest Houston was home to a nursery that sold plants and landscaping materials. Teas Nursery was the very first business in Bellaire. But after closing in 2009, two brothers, named Jerry and Maury Rubenstein, bought the land and gave it to the City of Bellaire – under the condition that it be turned into a park and named after their mother, Evelyn Rubenstein, a longtime resident of the area (and namesake of the Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center) who loved nature.
The park opened April 22, 2017, and producer Michael Hagerty took a tour and learned about the process of turning private land into public green space.
- A woman and her granddaughter try out the slides at Evelyn's Park in Bellaire. (Photo Credit: Michael Hagerty)
- Evelyn's Park in Bellaire. (Photo Credit: Michael Hagerty)
- The events center at Evelyn's Park in Bellaire. (Photo Credit: Michael Hagerty)
- A historical marker at Evelyn's Park in Bellaire tells the story of one the city's oldest businesses, which formerly occupied the location. (Photo Credit: Michael Hagerty)
- (L-R) Scott Rubenstein, whose mother, Evelyn, is the namesake for Evelyn's Park in Bellaire; Patricia Ritter, president of Evelyn’s Park Conservancy; and Denton Ragland, executive director of Evelyn’s Park Conservancy. (Photo Credit: Michael Hagerty)
- A walkway at Evelyn's Park in Bellaire. (Photo Credit: Michael Hagerty)
- A fountain at Evelyn's Park in Bellaire. (Photo Credit: Michael Hagerty)
- Butterflies honor donors on a wall at Evelyn's Park in Bellaire. (Photo Credit: Michael Hagerty)
- Signage at the entrance to Evelyn's Park in Bellaire. (Photo Credit: Michael Hagerty)
