Willis Winters Decided to Save Dallas’ Parks on a Whim. It Worked.

When it comes to those that have impacted preservation in Dallas, there are a handful of names that will go down in our city’s history. Willis Winters is at the top of that list. 

I chatted with Willis last month for some insights into his lengthy career at the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department. He retired in 2019, amassing over 50 preservation awards during his 27.5-year career there. 

Tell us a bit about your background.

I’m a Texas boy and grew up in Garland. I was building baseball stadiums with Lego blocks in first grade. When I found out what an architect was, I knew that’s what I wanted to do. My dad was the first park director for Garland, so he hired architects and built swimming pools and new recreation centers. I would tag along with him and watch.

At The University of Texas at Austin, I was proud to be ranked No. 1 in class at The School of Architecture. I did a residency program with Fisher and Spillman (now F&S Partners) in Dallas and worked there for over 11 years. A friend at the firm, Craig Blackmon, and I started doing architectural photography. In 1991we left and began that business full-time. 

What inspired the pivot to the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department?

I was starting a family and wanted more financial stability. I was sitting at La Madeleine one day and saw a posting for Superintendent of Design and Construction in the newspaper. That park blood from my youth kicked in. I applied for the job on a lark, and I got it.

Were those first years challenging?

I was in charge of design and construction for the Dallas Parks and Recreation department. In 1993, getting Fair Park ready for World Cup Soccer was put in my lap with no budget, so yes, that was challenging!  

How did your architecture background help you in the job?

I became profoundly interested in protecting the architectural legacy for Dallas and introducing architectural design into new construction. With talented architects on our park staff invested in preservation, we could restore park buildings at a fraction of the cost we’d have had if we went through the standard bid process.

I started to hire design architects for our picnic shelters. It was not long before the best architects in Texas wanted to work with us. Before we knew it, the word spread about our architect-designed park pavilions. National and international architects began coming to us. When Snøhetta, known for designing the award-winning building for the Norwegian Opera and Ballet and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina in Egypt, opened in New York, I called them. We now have the greatest custom-designed picnic pavilions of any city in America. One of our picnic shelters is their first built work in America.

What is the legacy of the Dallas Parks system?

It’s twofold. The 1930s Works Project Administration constructed our rock pavilions using The Civilian Conservation Corps. Reverchon Park is one of the great WPA-constructed landscape projects in Texas. The stone tables, the cliff, the trails. There are rock and stone benches that look like residential furnishings. 

What’s the second legacy of the Dallas Park System?

Fair Park. It was built for the 1936 Centennial Exposition, and it could easily be a world heritage site. There were six world fairs in the 1930s in the United States. Only Fair Park is still intact. 

The World Cup brought a lot of international attention to Fair Park. We put together a series of bond packages over the years to restore the buildings. We had to stabilize, replace electrical, and waterproof the roofs. Then we were able to get money in the bond programs to get the exterior preservation. That was a massive undertaking. Now, of course, budgets are needed for maintenance, but I feel good about the future of Fair Park. It’s an amazing asset for the city. We have an excellent operating partner now in Spectra.  

Is privatization the answer for historic preservation?

The city is not a fundraising organization. Private fundraising, along with bond programs, make the most significant impact. Privatizing the Dallas Zoo, for instance, has been very successful. I had a financial analyst firm do an economic impact study of Dallas parks. We found the ROI for neighborhood parks was about 10 to 1. Trails were 70 to 1, meaning for every dollar the city spent in tax dollars, there was a 70 percent return. Klyde Warren is off the charts. Every major city in America is trying to figure out how to replicate it for their city.  

Why is the Dallas Parks and Recreation Department one of the most successful departments in the country? 

Our private partners are instrumental in our success. When I used to go to national conferences and meet other park directors, they would try to emulate what we do in Dallas, but we have a philanthropic spirit here that I don’t see in many other cities for parks and the arts. Dallas understands that kind of investment and what it brings, and we are good at relationships. The director in Denver once told me they are in awe of what we accomplish in Dallas. 

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And we are in awe of what Willis Winters has accomplished. Not one to enjoy a leisurely retirement, he’s deep in research for his upcoming book on the architect Charles Stevens Dilbeck and anticipating the historic re-opening of the Baker Hotel in his new hometown of Mineral Wells.  

Through the hard work and determination of Willis Winters, our city is now nationally recognized for historic park preservation and serves as a continuing inspiration for parks departments around the country.