Oak Park is a unique neighborhood situated in the North Central area of San Antonio. It is famous for its trees, as evidenced by the name.
Drive down most any street in Oak Park and you get not only some of the best examples of architecture in the city, but you also feel like you are in a small wooded area with plenty of shade to go around on hot South Texas days.
The Oak Park-Northwood Neighborhood Association boundaries are Loop 410 to the North, Eisenhower Road/Claywell Drive to the South, Harry Wurzbach to the East and Broadway to the West.
Oak Park was where many people started settling around the early 1900s as San Antonio went from a mission town to a cattle outpost to the large metro city that it is today.
The homes in the area are well-preserved and serve as a reminder of the heyday of San Antonio expansion and of the potential of what the city could be at the time.
The trees that line many a street in Oak Park are unique and give the neighborhood a very inviting feel. Many have been there for decades, long before the area became settled.
In fact, if a tree is old enough, the residents of Oak Park will go out of their way to make sure that the tree is preserved, even if there is construction involved.
One of the most powerful, well-respected and influential groups in the entire city is the Oak Park-Northwood Neighborhood Association.
Neighboring Northwood and Oak Park share an Association because they both have not only the same zip code, but the same values and concerns as residents of two of San Antonio's oldest and most unique neighborhoods.
The Oak Park-Northwood Neighborhood Association meets publicly only twice a year in March and October. All residents are invited to these meetings as an open forum and assembly.
However, the members of the board of the Association meet at least once a month as a group and often with their city representatives at City Hall as well.
There is an optional yearly dues fee of just $15 per household to help cover the costs of the Association.
Oak Park is in a prime position in the city, because its district, the Northeast Independent School District, is one of the best in the entire city.
Residents have many options between some of the finest public schools in the city, or private schools. Parents also have the option of sending their children to Alamo Heights Independent School District schools.
Each year, Oak Park and Northwood team up to hold a 4th of July parade that is attended by residents from many areas of town. It is sponsored by the Oak Park-Northwood Neighborhood Association.
HEB is one of the oldest retailers in the state of Texas, and because they have a sense of history, they are into preservation.
The Oak Park HEB located at 1955 Nacogdoches is unique because right through the middle of the store grows – you guessed it, a tree. When HEB proposed to build a grocery store on that site, they were given permission to do so only if they didn't disturb the tree, which is over a century old.