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Collins Gardens Park

General Info

Park History

Finis Foster Collins (generally called F.F. Collins), born and raised in Rusk County, Texas, manufactured and marketed windmills and pumps that were essential to ranchers and farmers in the late 19th century. Collins settled in San Antonio and purchased a 140-acre farm southwest of the city. He built an imposing home and later divided the land into irrigated truck farms that he marketed as "Collins Gardens."

One of San Antonio’s many streetcar lines traveled through Collins Gardens and served surrounding neighborhoods including the City View Addition (later called Mount Auburn) and Collins Court, another of Collins’ developments. In 1911, F.F. Collins proposed creating a privately owned, landscaped parkway with elaborate fountains and a large swimming pool with bathhouses. It would be lined on either side with trees, sidewalks, and a driveway to allow residents of the surrounding subdivision to travel the length of the park. The interior space was to be a grassy area where neighborhood children could play. Collins indicated that he would retain ownership and management of the park that would be open to the public. This ambitious plan was not realized, and six years later, in 1917, F.F. Collins donated the land to the City of San Antonio.

City officials considered this long, narrow strip to be poorly suited for park development and negotiated to no avail with Collins to donate a more appropriate park site. Park Commissioner Ray Lambert even suggested an 18-acre site in the shape of San Jose Mission’s Rose Window, but Collins was determined that his subdivision would front on a linear park. The donated tract extended almost one mile from Nogalitos Street to near Frances Court. It was 2,940 feet long and 210 feet wide with 50-foot drives on either side, reducing its functional width to 110 feet.

The fact that the City Council agreed to install sewer service to the area at the time it accepted Collins’ gift evidently encouraged residential development, and bungalows were built surrounding the park. Collins Gardens Park has remained largely a grassy open space with tennis and basketball courts and picnic tables.

In December 1984, the Collins Garden Branch Library, located at the east end of the park on Nogalitos Street, was dedicated and opened to the public. The library was renovated with funds from the 1989 bond election and was rededicated in 1996. A granite gravel walking trail and drinking fountain were funded through the 1994 bond election and were completed in 2000.