Peters Colony Memorial Park Opens Thursday — and It's Actually Done

If you've driven Peters Colony Road lately and noticed construction crews finally clearing out, here's why: the park is done. Peters Colony Memorial Park opens Thursday, June 11, at 3201 Peters Colony Rd., just west of the Flower Mound Public Library. Head to the park at 6 p.m. to hear from guest speakers and experience the new amenities. A real time, a real address, a real finished thing — not a rendering.

Construction began in October 2024. So this is the payoff on roughly 20 months of dirt and fencing on a stretch of Peters Colony Road that's felt perpetually half-finished. Worth showing up.

The park is built around a specific civic idea, not just swing sets and a parking lot. The 3.3-acre park was designed as a specialty park honoring past, present, and future residents. The centerpiece of Thursday's ceremony is the dedication of a veterans plaza named for a man many of you already know. The plaza honors Flower Mound centenarian Doug Brown, who enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps and flew in B-25s and A-26s during World War II, then joined the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps in 1948 and was stationed in Italy, Germany, and France before retiring from the Army in 1966. For more than 35 years, Doug has dedicated himself to serving Flower Mound through volunteer work, earning the Governor's Volunteer Award in 2019 and Flower Mound's Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020. A plaza named for someone who still lives here and has receipts like that. That's the right call.

Beyond the veterans plaza, Peters Colony Memorial Park includes free-standing legacy and memorial elements, an educational water feature, native landscaping, nature-inspired playground equipment, and trails and pedestrian pathways with access to the Flower Mound Public Library. That trail connection to the library is the detail worth noting. Parks and Recreation director Chuck Jennings said years ago he envisioned people checking out a book and reading at the park. The nature trails and pedestrian pathways connect the park directly to the library. That vision is now a sidewalk.

The $3.36 million project was mostly funded through tax increment reinvestment zone proceeds, with additional funding from a $750,000 grant from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. The town went and found outside money for this rather than pulling it from the general fund whole-cloth.

One thing to watch going forward: the park includes Legacy Monuments where families can memorialize deceased Flower Mound residents, with panels available for those who lived here five or more years. The fee is $2,500 and includes fabrication, engraving, and installation. Applications are reviewed quarterly — in January, April, July, and October. If that's something your family is considering, the town's website at flowermound.gov/PCMP has the application.

The real test comes after Thursday. New parks need maintenance budgets and actual foot traffic to stay good. This one has a trail connection, a playground, and a named plaza. The bones are there. Whether the city keeps the trails trimmed and the water feature running in two years is a different question. Watch for it on future Parks Board agendas.