After being closed for more than a year, Wooldridge Square Park was reopened to the public on Sept. 13 with a new irrigation system, trees and turf grass.

WSP had been closed since May 2012 for the restoration project and the $300,000 project was covered by parkland dedication fees.

"This is a park that is important, but it has had a history of neglect," Mayor Pro Tem Sheryl Cole said. "Now we are going to change that tide, and we do that today by the community dedication to its reopening."

WSP is Austin's oldest park and was part of the original plan the city created in 1839. Restoring the park to a workable condition was important given its history, Councilman Chris Riley said.

"To bring it back to the condition that we expect of it is a real statement about what we expect of our parks in general," he said.

At the opening ceremony, Downtown Austin Alliance Executive Director Charlie Betts said WSP looked better than it did when he attended politician's stump speeches at the park as a child. The DAA will provide programming for the park, he said.

"We are so appreciative of the city's magnificent efforts to make this a magnificent park," he said.