Keist Park Conservation Area

HISTORY OF THE KIEST CONSERVATION AREA

Edwin John Kiest, newspaper publisher, was born on September 24, 1861. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois where he started out as a newsboy and later learned the printer’s trade working for various papers. While working for Western Newspaper Union, he was sent to Dallas and rather than accept a company promotion that would send him back to Dallas he established a stock company and bought the struggling Dallas Times Herald. He was very involved with civic service, which included, in 1935, giving the city of Dallas a large tract of land for a park in memory of his wife Elizabeth, who died in 1917. That park was Kiest Park.

Kiest Park has 260 acres. It is divided into 2 parts by Kiest Blvd. The southern part of the park has about 78 acres. When the WPA did the development of this part of the park in the 1930s, this area was the site of multiple trails which were used for walking, bicycling and horseback riding. There were picnic areas, restrooms and two bridges over the deep creek that fed into Five Mile Creek. The main trail went from Hampton Road to Rugged Drive over those bridges.

In the 1960s, the southern part of Kiest Park was essentially abandoned except for the Tennis Center with its clubhouse and multiple courts. In 2009, Friends of Oak Cliff Parks became interested in the southern part of Kiest Park and visited it with members of the Park Department Maintenance team. A large, untouched native prairie meadow was discovered in the center of the area. The wooded part was a dense thicket of privet, nandina and old growth trees.

A new program, “Loving My Community Improvement Grant,” was announced in 2009 by the City of Dallas which would give grants to local non‑profits to use to do projects that would benefit the community. FOCP decided to apply and received a grant of $10,000 to reopen the WPA Trail in the southern part of Kiest Park. This project involved volunteers from several local neighborhood associations, Master Gardeners, Master Naturalists, Boy Scouts and other Oak Cliff non‑profits. The main trail (Bridal Trail) was cleared and two information kiosks were installed at the site. Jim Varnum, Master Naturalist and wildflower/grasses expert, visited the meadow during several seasons and identified over 150 different plants. Boy Scouts from Troop 2012 developed 5 Eagle Scout projects in this part of Kiest: several bird nesting box projects and barricades on both sides of the deep gulley to prevent accidents.

In 2014, because of the unique qualities of the forest and meadow, the Dallas Park Department was asked to rename the southern part of Kiest Park. The name was changed to Kiest Park Conservation Area to denote the importance of protecting this special area.

In 2016, FOCP applied for a grant from the “Mayor’s Grow South Initiative” to open another trail (Meadow Loop Trail), put benches and bilingual signage along the new trail as well as the Bridal Trail. FOCP was again awarded a $10,000 Grant to do this work. Work began on October 1 and the trail was completed in the late spring of 2017. Volunteers from several schools, FOCP, and the surrounding neighborhoods took part. In addition, a relationship was established with Greenspace Dallas for assistance in trail construction and maintenance. This relationship, as well as the one with the Dallas Parks Department, helped to ensure that all trail work was up to national parks level standards. The Meadow Loop Trail project won 1st prize from both the Texas State Garden Club and 1st place from National Garden Club for Education and Nature Projects.

In 2017, a new parking lot and entrance were established at the corner of Hampton Road and Kiest Blvd. and a series of state garden club award‑winning trail walks were started. Docent‑led trail walks were conducted in the spring and fall with programs showcasing wildflowers, bugs, trees and birds. In 2019, a picnic area was added near the parking lot entrance.

An outdoor classroom was completed in the picnic area in 2023, providing an appropriate place for trail walk orientations.

In the fall of 2023, FOCP partner Greenspace Dallas was awarded a $75,000 grant from WFAA Channel 8 for trail building. From this grant, two new trails were constructed on the eastern portion of the Conservation Area. Those trails, the WFAA Burr Oak Trail and the WFAA Creekside Trail, were completed in the summer of 2024, doubling the total trail mileage for the park. This work also included the installation of signage, tables and benched, and a new kiosk for the new east entrance.

Projected projects for KCA include the resurfacing of the parking lot and entrance drive, the replacement of the parking lot kiosk, establishing a demonstration bed featuring the “Big Four” tall grass prairie grasses, and establishing a nature painting class.