It all started with a corn field and an idea.

Bureau of Identification Photographic Laboratory. [Planting Tree at Brentwood Elementary],photograph, March 1952

2025

New FOBP website and rebranding is launched.
FOBP Garden Club is started to better maintain the park’s pollinator planting beds.

With funding from the Violet Crown Community Works, Olive Farleigh completes her Girl Scout Silver Badge and adds two “Brentwood blue” picnic tables to the park. Her mission is to encourage kids to have “more green time, less screen time.’

Wildflower No-Mow zone along Yates is prepared in fall 2020 and installed for the spring season (led by Denman Netherland)
A memorial bench is installed for Wendell and Elaine Freeman.

Brentwood Playground Project committee wins the Golden Shovel Award from APF. PARD shares a Facebook video about the new park playground amenities.

Longtime FOBP volunteer Dave Shulder passes away just a couple days after the November IMPD. A Texas Ash along Yates is planted in a waterboxx in his honor (led by Kat Correa).

The Brentwood Playground Project Committee is formed.
The Double Arch steel sculpture (Emily Hoyt) is installed for several weeks as part of the Art in Public Places program.

The Hyperprism aluminum and crystal sculpture (Autumn Ewalt) is installed for several weeks as part of the Art in Public Places program.

A memorial bench is installed for Sidney Paschal and Billie Jean Shelton, Brentwood Street residents for 57 years. The planting bed was installed afterwards in 2016 (led by Marie Taylor).

A Waterboxx tree planting pilot program for 22 trees is successfully completed.
Sports fields are refurbished, water fountains repaired, and new benches are installed (led by Emily Wilson).
A memorial bench is installed for David Sikes, a founding member of Brentwood Neighborhood Association.

The decomposed granite half mile trail that borders the park is completed in September (led by Emily Wilson).
A memorial bench is dedicated to Renald Ferrovecchio on his birthday on October 5th.

The Purple Martin colony with 24 gourds is installed in early spring before the birds arrive via migration.
The picnic pavilion project is competed over the summer (led by Kat Correa).

A neighborhood wide park survey is conducted to determine park needs, and a master park plan is drafted (led by Denman Netherland).
Voices of the Violet Crown debuts their short film titled We Planted 115 Trees.

The first It’s My Park Day even is held on March 6, 2010. The Welcome sign planting bed is installed (led by Karen Lorenzini).
An historic tree planting of 115 trees takes place on November 6, 2010 (led by Emily Wilson, Hedrich Michaelsen, and Elaine Dill). Documented by Voices of the Violet Crown.

Neighbors Hedrich Michaelsen and Emily Wilson participate in the city’s Green Neighborhood Challenge and adopt Brentwood Park. Friends of Brentwood Park is formed and registered with the Austin Parks Foundation. (Hedrich Michaelsen and Emily Wilson, left and center, with Nancy Yelle).

A tree and plaque is dedicated in memory of Hardy Aldridge, BNA steering committee member.

Sponsored by Crestview Methodist church, Scout troop 48 officially adopts Brentwood Park to help care for recently planted trees.

Brentwood Park is again named a Superior Playground by the city of Austin. The park was also recognized in 1955 (see original plaque installation photo).

The Brentwood Recreation Club and Austin Recreation Department co-sponsor a junior baseball league at Brentwood Park for over 230 boys.

The Brentwood Recreation Club holds a variety show and annual fundraiser at Brentwood school for playground equipment. The Briar Patchers are shown here, and Cactus Pryor headlines the show.
“Brentwood was named the superior playground for 1955 and was awarded a plaque by Mayor Tom Miller at the annual Play Day program in Zilker Park.” ~Austin American Statesman

Keeping their tree planting as an annual event, the Brentwood Recreation Club plants 50 trees, gathering many Sycamore saplings from Onion Creek.

The Brentwood Park children’s pool is completed and opens behind the school. It has a maximum depth of four feet, and the water is drained each night into the arroyo.

The Brentwood Recreation Club is formed and plants 48 trees in the near the school and park in March. In May, the park is officially dedicated by members of city council and the Park and Recreation Board during a fundraising festival hosted by the Brentwood Recreation Club. It is the only city park north of 45th street. Monthly summer potlucks are held in the park, and for ten years, a park director planned numerous summer activities for neighborhood children. The recreation club later meets with city officials for the development of a playground.

The city of Austin purchases a plot of land from the Pease family to build Brentwood school. The cornfield behind the school stretches up to the homes on Justin Lane and becomes Brentwood Park.
View the original image to zoom in on Brentwood School, which is the white building in a field in the upper left quadrant of the photo. The empty plot of land to its right becomes Brentwood Park. With this view facing west, note the angled intersection of Airport and Lamar boulevards on the left, and find Justin Lane to the left of that intersection. Follow Justin Lane westward as it intersects Grover, Woodrow, and Arroyo Seco. Then to the right, notice the Crestview Shopping located in between Woodrow and Arroyo Seco where the Minimax IGA opened in 1953.
Douglass, Neal. Aerial view of Jefferson Chemical Plant, photograph, October 3, 1951;(https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth74571/: accessed April 19, 2025), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.