Japanese Garden at Kidd Springs Park Featured On 2026 Garden Tour

By Alan Rister

The upcoming DCMGA Garden Tour on May 9 will feature seven beautiful gardens, including the Japanese Garden at Kidd Springs Park, as one of the stops on this year’s tour.

Unknown to most residents of Dallas County is the existence of a public Japanese garden located within Kidd Springs Park, in North Oak Cliff. This unique garden was opened officially and dedicated in 1971 after several years of work. After a period of neglect, efforts to renovate the garden have been ongoing since 2016 with the goal of restoring it to its original beauty.

The Japanese Garden at Kidd Springs Park originated indirectly because of the passion of Mrs. Ethel Buell for Japanese art. The wealthy wife of an early petroleum baron in Oklahoma, she had the literal good fortune of pursuing her passion by assembling a significant collection of Japanese artifacts during the 1920s and ’30s. In 1928, she commissioned the creation of a ten-acre garden, including a wooden footbridge and other structures to be constructed by

Japanese craftsmen and shipped to Oklahoma, to complement her estate in Muskogee.

Upon her passing, Ethel Buell’s estate was inherited by her daughter, Betty Buell Bradstreet, who had fond memories of visiting Dallas with her mother. In 1964 Mrs. Bradstreet sent a letter to the City of Dallas to inquire if the city would be interested in acquiring the collection of Japanese artifacts. In 1969 Oak Cliff residents Dr. and Mrs. Jack Edwards funded the acquisition of the entire collection along with funding for extensive landscaping and stonework in Kidd Springs Park, which was undergoing improvements at the same time. Thus began the Japanese Garden at Kidd Springs Park.

The new Japanese Garden, mislabeled as “Oriental” at the time, was designed by the storied firm of Lambert’s Landscape Company. The original plantings included Japanese Maples, Japanese Black Pines, and Ginkgo Trees, as well as a variety of Bamboos, Azaleas, and Camellias, all of which are native to Japan but most of which are not necessarily well adapted to typical alkaline soils in Dallas. Many of these have disappeared over time, and replacement plantings are now focused on native and well-adapted plants which “create a resilient landscape that honors Japanese garden traditions in a local way.”

The gem of the Buell collection, still standing in Kidd Springs, is a ten-foot tall tōrō (lantern, in Japanese) entitled Spring Lantern. This monumental work carved of granite was originally sent by the Emperor of Japan to be displayed at the Century of Progress World’s Fair in Chicago in 1933 and was eventually acquired, along with a smaller piece entitled Snow Lantern, by Ethel Buell. Among other additions to her collection, Mrs. Buell had also purchased five carved granite 18th-century Buddha statues in 1930, two of which remain in the Japanese Garden today.

The 1980s and ’90s were unkind to the garden during a period of severe budgetary cutbacks in the Dallas Parks Department. Much was lost to neglect, vandalism, and thieves. The red-lacquered wooden bridge and a torii gate, which had been disassembled in Oklahoma and reassembled at Kidd Springs, were left to deteriorate. The teahouse burned. Snow Lantern disappeared. Also missing and presumed stolen is a bronze Japanese Buddhist temple bell from the Edo Period (1773). After falling into this dilapidated state, the Japanese Garden was rescued with much-needed restoration and improvements provided by a bond issue approved by Dallas voters in 2017 which included funding for capital expenditures in parks throughout the city of Dallas. Major restorations were completed in 2023.

The Friends of Oak Cliff Parks Garden Club (FOCP) was founded in 2002 “for the purpose of restoring horticulture in and preserving the historic parks of Oak Cliff.” Today, the organization focuses specifically on their mission “to maintain and restore horticulture in the four historic parks of Oak Cliff:” Lake Cliff Park, Kidd Springs Park, Kiest Park, and the Kiest Conservation Area. This very active community organization advocates for the improvement of Oak Cliff parks for the benefit of all.

Volunteers from FOCP as well as citizens from Oak Cliff participate in ongoing programs of maintenance and restoration, including specific attention to the Japanese Garden at Kidd Springs Park. In addition, a contingent of volunteer members of Dallas County Master Gardeners participates actively in regular work days at the Japanese Garden in collaboration with the City of Dallas Parks and Recreation Department and FOCP.