Is anyone familiar with Martyrs Park?

Posted by AnastasiaNo70@reddit | Dallas | View on Reddit | 27 comments

https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2024/july/dallas-recognizes-the-history-of-martyrs-park-hidden-in-plain-sight/

It’s got to be the smallest park in Dallas. My brother rode the rail downtown and was walking around this area when he found Martyrs Park.

We read up on it and it’s pretty damn cool. Hard to find, easy to miss. It’s just beyond Dealey Plaza.

The D magazine article (link above) is fantastic.

I wanted to post this for anyone interested in Dallas history or little known spots in Dallas.

[-]

upperdeckerdad@reddit

https://www.reddit.com/r/Dallas/s/y4TkzBhu2o

[-]

Whitey138@reddit

How do you get there? Do you just cross the tracks from the book depository?

[-]

Fantastic_Scratch_62@reddit

I'm going to nominate Federal Plaza as the smallest park.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/zsUU1gG96S7LNe25A https://www.dallasparks.org/facilities/facility/details/Federal-Plaza-482

[-]

AnastasiaNo70@reddit (OP)

Is it just those two trees and that concrete?

[-]

Fantastic_Scratch_62@reddit

Don't forget the railing. 😂

And a few people sleeping in the shade most days.

[-]

StableExcitation@reddit

From the artists' website:

https://www.resite-studio.com/victimsofracialviolence

[-]

I'm going to make this park my new 'fight crazy with crazy' counterpoint to JFK conspiracy theorists: "Oh you still believe the CIA propaganda there was someone on the grassy knoll, when that was obviously a distraction to stop people from looking for evidence of a sniper in Martyr's Park? Amateur."

[-]

PomeloPepper@reddit

the most powerful phrase in 'fight crazy with crazy' is:

That's what they want you to think!

[-]

AnastasiaNo70@reddit (OP)

Also: claim that God talks to you and he agrees with you 100%. Two can play at that game.

[-]

BearWithHat@reddit

For anyone curious like I was, it appears the smallest park in Dallas is Stone park, composed of .01 acre and a bench

[-]

brentonbond@reddit

It also has a water fountain and trash can!

[-]

ApprehensiveAnswer5@reddit

And it had a Little Free Library for awhile too. Unsure if it still does. And it’s got nice shade, lol.

[-]

AnastasiaNo70@reddit (OP)

I think I’ll check it out!

[-]

AnastasiaNo70@reddit (OP)

Thank you, I was curious!

[-]

elisabethofaustria@reddit

Yes! I actually came across it back in Mar. 2024, a few weeks before the public dedication. It’s beautiful and very moving.

[-]

KangarooJaq@reddit

A very small park indeed but also a memorial where 3 black enslaved men were lynched in 1860.

[-]

AnastasiaNo70@reddit (OP)

Yes, that’s who the memorial is for, among others.

[-]

AphidsTwinMattress@reddit

I'm glad someone mentioned it. I had jury duty one day and was walking from the court to get to Dealy Plaza and I saw it.

It's really powerful seeing how the high point looks like a sundial and knowing what it represents.

[-]

SkyScreech@reddit

What does it represent

[-]

AphidsTwinMattress@reddit

The tall sundial point looks like a tree branch sticking out or the high point where someone would've been hanged. I can't remember if when the sunlight hits it at a certain hour if it lines up with some thing on the ground or the metal structure near it

[-]

Agile_Definition_415@reddit

A sundial sits in the center, allowing the shadows to draw the viewer’s attention to their names and those of others who were lynched in the city between 1853 and 1910.

“The memorial was supposed to have this idea of hope, too,” he says. “Where there’s a shadow, there is light.”

https://www.dmagazine.com/publications/d-magazine/2024/july/dallas-recognizes-the-history-of-martyrs-park-hidden-in-plain-sight/

[-]