Finding Our Ins-park-ration!
Parks are the heart and soul of Easton Park: when our neighborhood is complete, we’ll have more than 350 acres of green space and more than 13.1+ miles – a half marathon – of trails! That’s why all of our neighborhood sections (and their flagship parks) have been inspired by famous parks from around the world. Of course, we put an Austin spin on them!
How Do You Name a Park?
We start by looking at the physical features and topography of the land. Are there any hills? A creek or water feature? Where is the section located—is it in the center of the neighborhood or on the edge?
Next, our creative team makes a list of amazing parks and their special features. We look at the size of the famous parks and how they fit into their communities. We research the amenities and architecture, as well as each park’s history. Is the name hard to pronounce? Is there anything around the park we could use to name the streets? Are there any fun play areas that could inspire our play areas? Is there already an area of Austin that shares the park name (Hyde Park, for example). Finally, our land and marketing teams get together and match up the land sections to the names. It’s hard work, but we try to make each one meaningful and appropriate for life here at Easton Park. Here are a few of our section names and the inspiration behind them:
Bryant Park
The Inspiration: Though many know Bryant Park for its former role as the home for New York Fashion Week, the Midtown Manhattan park is just as cherished for providing a green space for locals to eat lunch. It’s home to the main branch of the New York Public Library, a carousel, and a winter village that includes an ice-skating rink.
The Easton Park Version: Forgive us for getting a little nostalgic here—Bryant Park was the first section to open here at Easton Park! The park itself is still one of our most popular green spaces, with a hammock garden, trike track, playscapes, grill stations, and a covered pavilion! And it’s home to a lot of great memories—the Great Lawn here in Bryant Park was home to our first three Parkapaloozas!
Knob Hill
The Inspiration: San Francisco’s Nob Hill neighborhood isn’t exactly a park, but it is definitely a hill! Known for luxury mansions, great restaurants, and stunning views of the San Francisco Bay, Nob Hill is also home to several parks with fountains, green space, and walking paths.
The Easton Park Version: With amazing hilltop views of the entire neighborhood, Knob Hill Park is our favorite place in Easton Park to watch the sunset! We spelled our Knob with a K to honor Pilot Knob, the extinct volcano just north of Easton Park. To pay tribute to its San Francisco namesake, this park is home to the Easton Park Trolley, a repurposed Dillo trolley that used to carry people around downtown Austin. You’ll also find swings and a great hill for sledding.
Union Park & Union Park West
The Inspiration: Our Union Parks are named for Union Park in Chicago, a lively municipal park in the west part of the city known for community events and festivals. Chicago’s park was established 1853 and named for the United States’ federal union. By 1910, it was one of the only racially integrated parks in the city, and the surrounding neighborhood is home to many of the city’s labor union offices.
The Easton Park Version: Did someone say community events and festivals? Union Park brings people together, often at The Union, our luxurious 14,000 sq. ft. amenity center featuring a club-style fitness center and resort-style pool. Four-legged Eastonites love meeting up at Easton Bark, our temporary dog park that you would never know was temporary, featuring covered seating areas, separate play areas for large and small dogs, doggie water fountains, and more. Take the trail system over to Union Park West, and you’ll find natural areas great for walking, jogging, and enjoying green space. Plus, get your game on with a pickleball court and half basketball court. Look for 2 food truck sites coming in the future.
Skyline Park
The Inspiration: With a beer garden and mini-golf in the summer and an outdoor ice-skating rink in the winter, Denver’s Skyline Park puts a lot of family-friendly activities into the middle of downtown.
The Easton Park Version: Because this neighborhood is home to the highest point in the Easton Park community, it only seemed appropriate to name it after a park in the Mile-High City. The views from the 21-acre flagship park give Knob Hill a run for its money. The park features a splash pad, two cool play areas, swings, slides, restrooms, a great lawn with a shaded concert pavilion, a zipline, and even a scale model of Austin’s famous Pennybacker Bridge called the Mini Penny. Pocket parks and inter-connected trails throughout the section will give residents walkable access to The Union.
Kieke Park
The Inspiration: This section is a little different than most—it’s actually named for a family, not a park. The Kieke family owned much of the original land where Easton Park now sits. Lawrence and Gertrude Kieke married in 1917 and built a small frame house on their original plot of 40.5 acres. With the help of their five children—Lucille, Florene, Lois, Raymond, and Morris—the Kiekes enlarged their land holdings and ran a family cotton farm.
The Easton Park Version: The park in Kieke Park pays tribute to the Kieke family with a plaque that tells their story as well as stone monument benches engraved with their names. Kids love the climbing structures and slides. The logo for this section has a fig, which commemorates the fig trees that used to line the Kiekes’ property.
Discovery Park
The Inspiration: As the largest city park in Seattle, Discovery Park sits on the coastline overlooking Puget Sound, offering majestic views of both the Cascade and the Olympic Mountain ranges. With a lighthouse, trails, and a nature-inspired playground, the park is popular with visitors and locals alike.
The Easton Park Version: While we’re a little land-locked here in Central Texas, the spirit of discovery comes through! Our Discovery Park neighborhood offers trails, natural areas, and recreational park space, as well as 273 homesites ranging from 45 feet to 60 feet. The 1.62-acre park in this section offers a wide range of topographic features, from open undulating spaces to vista hilltops. Visitors can enjoy groupings of red oaks, music play stations, a wide sports field with soccer fields, and a public art installation from renowned artist Beili Liu. Natural play opportunities include a dry creek, dig zone, and sensory gardens.
Prospect Park
The Inspiration: Designed by Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux, Prospect Park opened in Brooklyn in 1867. This 526-acre park offers a 60-acre lake as well as a historic bandshell that hosts outdoor concerts, not to mention lots of natural green space.
The Easton Park Version: Tucked on the east side of Easton Park, our Prospect Park has easy access to Hwy 183 as well as our future retail and commercial amenities. With 784 homesites, it was the largest neighborhood ever platted in Travis County! The neighborhood’s signature park will offer twin twirl slides, a rock climbing structure, public art, and acres of green space for picnicking and relaxing.
Pilot Park
The Inspiration: Long, long before the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport existed, the Pilot Knob volcano erupted just north of what is now Easton Park. This relic from the late Cretaceous Period is now extinct, but it – plus our close proximity to the airport – helped provide the name for our Pilot Park neighborhood.
The Easton Park Version: Located on the west side of Easton Park along McKinney Falls Parkway, Pilot Park features one- and two-story homes on 40-ft lots that offer all the advantages of a single-family home with a cozier footprint and lower price point than larger traditional homes. In addition to several pocket parks throughout the neighborhood, Pilot Park will feature a signature park with twisty slides, a climbing net, and beautiful public art sculptures that capture the essence of wind and pay homage to aviation.
Ready to live in a neighborhood that celebrates parks? Come for a visit and bring a picnic lunch! Or check out our available homes online.
