Kiest Park (Photo by Danny Fulgencio)

Kiest Park (Photo by Danny Fulgencio)

Kiest Park is a jewel of Oak Cliff and one of the oldest and busiest parks in Dallas.

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Now the rest of Texas is recognizing it.

The nonprofit Texas Recreation and Park Society named Kiest Park a Lone Star Legacy Park, which marks it as “a park that holds special prominence in the local community and the state of Texas.”

Kiest Park was built in 1931 on 247 acres of land donated by Dallas Times Herald publisher Edwin John Kiest. Kiest, who also served as president of the Dallas Park Board in the 1930s, donated the land in memory of his wife, Elizabeth Patterson Keist, who died in 1917.

The park features a hike-and-bike trail, tennis courts, a baseball complex, a recreation center and playgrounds. The Works Progress Administration-built pergola and water rill were restored in 2014 with $2 million from 2006 bond funds.

A public art tribute to the Vaughan brothers was approved last year.