Renovated North Texas park boasts one of state’s largest inclusive playgrounds

Children play. It’s what they do.

And at the newly renovated Katherine Rose Memorial Park in Mansfield they can play and use their imagination to its fullest on an inclusive playground that is one of largest in the state.

The city spent $7 million, with funds coming from a half cent sales tax and the America Rescue Plan Act, in renovations on the park that has been a community favorite since the early 1990s. This includes a 100,000 square foot inclusive playground.

“Playgrounds were created to help children play safely together and support their physical, cognitive, and emotional growth. Conventional playgrounds often include obstacles that prevent children with special needs from fully utilizing the equipment or playing alongside their friends,” said Matt Young, Mansfield executive director of community services. “Inclusive playgrounds bring families together, promote community engagement, and show that everyone is welcome.”

Young added that an inclusive playground is important because it ensures that all children, regardless of their abilities, can gather, grow, learn and play together. He noted that when children of all abilities play together, they learn empathy, cooperation, and respect.

“Children with disabilities experience a sense of inclusion, while those without disabilities come to appreciate that differences are natural and enriching,” he said.

Highlights of renovated Rose Park

Using equipment built by Plano-based Whirlix Design and Landscape Structures Inc. features of the new playground include:

Walnut’s Treehouse Towers: Nearly 34 feet high and with almost 100 feet of ramps lead to three slides. Thanks to the series of gradual ramps and sturdy belting, children in wheelchairs or other mobility devices can climb to the second level with their friends, with sensory walls and other ways to play together throughout the journey. Also, youngsters can climb and slide in and around Walnut, a 12-foot tall, custom-designed squirrel structure.

Squirrel’s Nest Hideaway: Kids hide, climb, explore and play in this unique figure-eight playground that stretches 40-feet wide, with a variety of belting materials, climbers, nets and slides.

Little Acorn’s Alcove and Mushroom Meadow: Children 2 to 5 have their own space to play, complete with ramps, slides, ladders, musical instruments, and a fully immersive sensory experience. Leaf and log-shaped steppers promote motor skill development.

Tumble and Twirl Thicket: Includes 10 swings with varied seats to accommodate many users and abilities, including high backs and flat disc-style swings. The wheelchair-accessible We-Go-Swing allows face-to-face social and interactive play. Sway Fun Glider is an inclusive glider with an offset table for active participation by all abilities, with one side seated and the other open for standing or up to two wheelchairs.

Mansfield resident Andrea Curtis, whose 9-year-old daughter Callie is physically challenged, is excited about the new playground being available for her and many other children.

“Three years ago, when Mansfield was designing the new playground for Katherine Rose Park, the Parks and Recreation team invited us to visit a local all-inclusive playground so they could observe my daughter and her friend at play. They took the time to truly understand her abilities and limitations, rather than assuming what might work,” Curtis said. “That level of care meant so much to us.

“We’ve seen many playgrounds labeled ‘inclusive’ that fall short for children who use wheelchairs, but this project is different. My daughter Callie can’t wait to play on the playground she helped inspire.”

Inclusivity a high priority for Rose Park

“We knew Rose Park holds a special place in our residents’ hearts, and whatever we did needed to be special,” he said. “We also knew from our 2020 master plan that inclusivity was a high priority, so it was the perfect location to create something truly remarkable.”

Young said most of 2022 was spent gathering public feedback with meetings, surveys, and focus groups, and beginning the design process. Another huge step happened in 2022, when the city council allotted the remaining $4 million of Mansfield’s federal ARPA grant to Rose Park.

“Those funds were designed to help communities create safe, welcoming spaces for residents to gather together, and this project was a perfect fit,” he said. “Without that grant, we would not have been able to create anything even close to this scale, and it was a huge vote of confidence in this vision for Mansfield.”

Most of the remaining funding came from the city’s half-cent sales tax dedicated to park development.

Young said what started as a replacement for the park’s original playground turned into a re-imagining of the entire park footprint, including all of the sport courts and fields, parking lot, restrooms, and open spaces.

For example, the new restrooms are not only double the size, they include three family restrooms with changing/dressing tables and plenty of space for accessible care.

“This phase of park renovation was focused on the playground, but had to start with a realignment of the whole layout in order to make the space for the larger footprint and, most importantly, get the amenities out of the floodway,” Young said.

That meant expanding the parking lot to nearly triple the previous size but also in a completely new place. That space was formerly used for basketball and sand volleyball courts.

Phase two, which is in the design stage now, will replace those courts, adding even more, as well as tennis and pickleball courts, on one of the park’s two previously underused soccer fields. The other field will be a huge outdoor fitness space, with a ninja course, 40-yard dash sprint track, looped walking trail, outdoor equipment, and open-air fitness pavilion.

Young said that design is expected to wrap up in early 2026, with construction to begin by summer.

He also noted it is important that the project did not change the park’s natural spaces, which have long played a big role in its attractiveness.

“Rose Park was originally a pecan orchard, and those huge, old trees are one of the reasons everyone loves it so much,” he said. “It very much feels like a woodland oasis in the middle of the city. Keeping the trees and that natural feeling was a huge priority for everyone involved, and it became a key part of the design.”