Earth Day 2014

From Susan Stephens, Chair of the Encore Park Community Garden (EPCG)

At the Occasion of Earth Day 2014, Downtown Dallas

I was chair of the Community Ministries committee when the congregation of FPC purchased this piece of property several years ago with plans to restore the historic 508 Park building, build an outdoor amphitheater and have a green space within this corner of Downtown Dallas. As a Dallas County Master Gardner, I saw that green space on the plan and thought a community garden would be a wonderful addition to these visionary dreams.

The dream is coming true with hard work and funds from many, many people and fabulous partnerships like the Young Guns of The Real Estate Council.  Our EPCG committee has been meeting for about 2.5 years -for most gardeners the planning and waiting is hard since we are anxious to get our hands dirty. Already in use is our temporary bed where we are raising produce that has been distributed to the families of the ESL program at The Stewpot and Abigail has been using the garden with her Horticultural Therapy clients.

Our vision of Encore Park Community Garden is a place for people to regain their roots and plant second chances. Our community garden will break down barriers between people:

• Economic barriers

• Social barriers

• Racial barriers

• Religious barriers

• Barriers of age, physical ability, and having a home or not

It will be an inclusive space - open to everyone. We will start small and learn as we go but within a year or two I hope to see individuals working in their garden plots sharing their gardening best practices with one another – and one of these gardeners may live in one of the beautiful new expensive town homes being built in our neighborhood just blocks away and the other may not have a home of their own and be a client of The Stewpot. But they see one another as valued and loved children of God.

A little history of gardening in downtown Dallas includes William Ross’ garden:  In the mid to late -1800s there were two brothers named Ross living in the area that is modern day Downtown Dallas. In fact Ross Avenue is named for these two brothers and their home was located on what we now call Ross Avenue near the current day intersection of Ross and Akard.  One of the brothers, William, was very interested in horticulture. According to a Dallas Morning News article from April 1922 (92 years from today’s Earth Day), William cultivated a garden near his home in the mid to late 1880s. The skeptics thought he was crazy – that this was not a proper place for a garden but in fact his garden is attributed to be Dallas’ first Kitchen Garden.

With EPCG our dream is to again take a barren plot of land and use it to reconnect people with growth and new life in a garden in this corner of downtown Dallas.

To paraphrase the Parable of the Sower from the Gospel of Luke, this is the story where the Sower spreads seed.  Some of the seed lands on hard ground, other seed finds shallow, rocky soil and still more seed falls on soil filled with thorns and thistle filled soil - but some of the seeds lands on fertile soil. Our hope is some of today’s seed will find good soil in Encore Park CG and yield hundredfold.

What do politics, food, and music have in common?

Join Pat Bywaters of the Project Committee for Encore Park/508 Park and Art Greenhaw of the Light Crust Doughboys to find out. They are the celebrity chefs at the State Fair of Texas on October 7 at 4:30 pm. Stop by the Maytag Celebrity Kitchen in the Creative Arts Building for a taste of The Light Crust Doughboy's famous Texas Tea Cakes developed by Governor W. Lee (Pappy) O'Daniel, and learn more about The Stewpot's vision for restoring 508 Park, where music history was made in the 1930s.

Demo Day

"Demo Day" is this Sunday, April 22

On most Sundays, the corner of Young and Park witnesses the arrival and departure of those attending First Presbyterian Church. Sometimes, street feeders swoop in to the southside of Young, pulling up in front of The Stewpot’s main door, to hand out sausage sandwiches and a few words of evangelism to homeless individuals.

But this Sunday, something entirely different will occur at the corner of Young and Park—a building will be dismantled to pave the way for an outdoor amphitheater. What you will be able to see swooping in this Sunday will be a demolition claw knocking down the walls of 1900 Young.

Sometimes, something must be torn down for something new to be built up. In good theological fashion, that is the current situation for 1900 Young. That building will come down so that something new can come forth.

Demo Day marks the beginning of a major expansion of The Stewpot’s ministry. The Stewpot will reach across Park Avenue to save a historic building and create a resource center, with something for everyone. In this, it continues its innovative approach to emerging community needs.

Last year when The Stewpot purchased the three properties across from it, they had been empty and neglected for twenty years.

The Stewpot recognized that they provided a unique opportunity to grow its programs. For the core clientele of The Stewpot, programs we have been involved in will be able to be expanded by the addition of the space across the Street.

The Open Art Studio will move to 508 Park, and a pottery workshop and framing shop will be added.  The concerts for homeless individuals which have been ongoing for more than fifteen years will perhaps be staged in the amphitheater in future years.

A recording studio will be created, so that groups can record in the historic space where people like blues legends Robert Johnson and Eric Clapton recorded in the past. Homeless individuals will be provided opportunities to record.

Educational opportunities for children and youth will include receiving music lessons from our music partners. They will also have the opportunity to learn how to do a music recording in the recording studio.

          Many exhibits of art from the Open Art Studio are hosted throughout the year at various local galleries, as well as at the annual exhibit each December at the Dallas Public Library. At 508 Park, a permanent gallery space will be created for displaying and selling the artists’ creations. Like music, art is a medium that unites people. As more and more people experience art created by homeless and at-risk individuals, we expect that some of the barriers of prejudice about homelessness may be broken down. Since, with each sale, The Stewpot artists earn money, a permanent Art Gallery provides more opportunities for self-sufficiency.

          Also included in 508 Park will be a small coffee bar, a green room for performers at the amphitheater, office space on the second floor for music partner organizations, an event place (including a roof deck) for meetings and celebrations, and a Museum of Street Culture that provides a social context for the music that was recorded at 508 in the 1930s and for the social locations of the Depression of the 1930s and of homelessness today. The flat lot on the south side of 508 will become a community garden space.

         508 Park will be a place where music will continue to be made. We especially are envisioning programs that will work with children and youth to insure that music is a part of their lives. 508 Park is moving music and artistic outreach into the future in a way that is inclusive of all varieties of people and welcoming of all.

          Demo Day begins at noon. A small ceremony will occur and then the demolition claw will do its job. Bruce Buchanan suggests “if that doesn’t work, then everyone will be given a hammer.” The General Contractor is J. P. Barry and the architects are Good Fulton and Farrell.

          Twenty years in the making, Demo Day will continue The Stewpot’s work of making new things possible. Join us as we begin transforming the corner of Young and Park.

For further information see 508park.org 

The Future of 508 Park Avenue: Second Chances for a Historic Building

On June 28th, 2011, The Stewpot/Community Ministries of First Presbyterian Church of Dallas completed the purchase of 508 Park Avenue, Dallas, and the adjoining properties on either side of it, 1900 Young and 1905 Canton. 508 Park has received national and international attention because of its unique history as one of only two locations where the legendary blues musician Robert Johnson recorded. As an example of a Zig Zag Moderne building, 508 Park also has great architectural significance; it was designed by the New Orleans firm that designed the Louisiana State Capitol.

What does the purchase of the property mean and what do we plan to do with it?

We are pleased that we can help protect and, in time, return to use as an occupied and functional building, this precious property—precious to all lovers of blues, and important as the city of Dallas’s specimen of Zig Zag Moderne.

A detail view of the top of the entry tower showing 
the stepped and layered facade, with cast stone bas-relief panels 
suggesting the Garden of Eden. Curtains in the stair-stepped
panel above the narrow window reveal a mother and baby bird. 
Abstract natural and vegetable motifs are common in Art Deco 
architecture.

We wish to preserve and maintain both parts of this building’s unique legacy, and we see this as part of our ministry to this community. In 1963, the time of the last renovation of 508 Park, the building was practically gutted of all its interior original walls. It has been empty now for twenty years and has been vandalized repeatedly. The distinctive exterior light sconces disappeared years ago. While many complaints were raised about the homeless, most incidents were the work of others. Court records show that the people apprehended for vandalizing the property were not homeless. 
 
Many ideas for upgrading the adjoining properties and specific plans for the safeguarding and restoring the 508 Park property have been developed. We envision a place of vitality, open to all.

Detail at the entry surround, illustrating multiple
layers of the facade in brick, cast stone relief and
three colors of natural stone. The repeated stair-step
profiles, complex layering and scalloped detail above
the building address are characteristic of Zig Zag Moderne.

Specific programs will benefit the congregation of First Presbyterian Church and Stewpot clientele. The long-standing year-round educational outreach to at-risk inner-city children and youth are some of the intended beneficiaries of these efforts. But, this historic building is being preserved for the entire community and reflects the belief in the ongoing vitality in our city’s southeast downtown community.

 
While it is well known that Robert Johnson was born 100 years last month, and that he recorded 13 songs at 508 Park, it is less well known that construction began exactly one hundred years ago on the sanctuary for First Presbyterian Church of Dallas. At that time its front door faced Harwood and Wood. Two doors were built, under the engraved words “God is Light” and “God is Love.”

First Presbyterian Church is now completing a new Welcome Center that faces the crossroads of Young and Park, and so our front door rotates 180 degrees. This new front door looks down Park Avenue. The garden of light and love at the intersection of Wood and Harwood now is widened to embrace the crossroads of Park and Young. 

The property redevelopment will begin with the demolition of 1900 Young Street, the empty building that stands at the southeast corner of the crossroads of Young and Park. In its place, an outdoor performance amphitheatre will be constructed.  The two-story stacked stone corner of the current building will be preserved as a corner tower and a perimeter wall will help replicate the previous building’s footprint. Trees and grass will grace this new cityscape. The amphitheater will host concerts, performances, and outdoor worship.

1905 Canton Street (the south side of 508) now a vacant lot and enclosed by chain link fence, will receive a new perimeter of trees and an iron fence to complement the existing fence adjacent to the Masonic Temple.

The Rev. Dr. Bruce A. Buchanan, Executive Director of The Stewpot and Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church said, “508 Park has long been a place of pilgrimage for Blues lovers. We understand the great desire to step into the building where Johnson recorded, and we have every goal of not just bringing it up to code, but preserving and restoring historically-significant areas of the building. We hope to create a state-of-the-art recording studio in the area where Robert Johnson was known to have recorded his legendary music those hot June days in 1937.  Additionally, plans are under consideration for the first floor of this 3 1/2 floor, 23,000 square foot building to be used for music education, an art gallery, and a Spirit of the Blues empowerment coffee bar.” 

The Rev. Buchanan continued, “The Stewpot has been devoted to recognizing and supporting the talents of homeless individuals and enriching the lives of inner city children and youth. Acquiring these properties, construction of the amphitheatre, and creation of related creative arts programs will advance our current employment and educational goals while providing a performance venue for all genres of music for the community.  For ten years The Stewpot’s semiannual concerts have been wonderful gatherings for all. For twenty years, the Annual Talent Show has highlighted original music composition and performances. These and other events will be featured at the amphitheatre.”

In closing, Rev. Buchanan said, “The Stewpot ministry is a ministry of second chances; now we are able to give a second chance to 508 Park, and in doing so, we are creating a new intersection of love and light.”

Graphics copyright (c) 2011, Good Fulton & Farrell. Used by permission.