One year ago today, surrounded by friends, neighbors, and community partners, we unveiled the new name for our signature urban park system: Waterloo Greenway. This exciting, bold vision symbolizes our vibrant community, celebrating nature and inclusion, while acknowledging history, and building connections to one another.
Waterloo Greenway encompasses our ambitions to create a wondrous park system and 1.5-mile urban ecosystem — activated by cultural programming — with the power to bring the entire Austin community together.
We are thankful for our community of supporters, including the City of Austin, and collaboration with the Watershed Protection and Parks & Recreation Departments. The Austin City Council commemorated our big change by naming August 22, 2019, as “Waterloo Greenway Day.”
Designed with stakeholder engagement and led by Bruce Mau Design, Waterloo Greenway’s visual transformation has already received recognition, nominated for the 2020 Dezeen Awards and as a notable honoree of the Core77 Design Awards.
Formerly known as Waller Creek Conservancy, we chose to move away from the creek’s namesake, Edwin Waller, for his history of enslaving people, and chart a new legacy as an anti-racist, welcoming space. Waterloo Greenway remains grounded in Austin history, as “Waterloo” was the name of our city’s settlement upon its founding.
But we’re not done. We need Austin’s support. Join our movement to breathe life into Waterloo Greenway and illuminate our parks with family-friendly fun and exciting community programs by becoming a member today.
In these difficult times, we need hope. And, the future of Waterloo Greenway is so bright. We can’t wait to gather together again at Waterloo Park, open next spring.