This site began as the first Portland Cement Plant west of the Mississippi started in 1880. Some of this cement was used to build the state capitol building in Austin. In the early 1900s, the city Park Superintendent envisioned turning the abandoned quarry into a Japanese Tea Garden. He asked newly arrived Japanese artist K. E. Jingu to take on the project. Mr. Jingu and other Japanese designers used natural rocks to build bridges, walkways, and ponds. In 1915 Jingu and his wife moved on site and stayed for 25 years raising their eight children. Jingu died in 1938. Regretfully when WWII began the family was evicted and the gardens were renamed "Chinese Sunken Garden" though the two youngest children served in the Army and James earned a purple heart. In July 1983 the original name was restored.
It is a popular place for professional photographers at this time of graduation and pre-wedding photos. I must have seen six of them in action that day. The tea garden if free to the public. There is a little cafe with 25 or so tea choices, both hot and cold, and some Bento box lunches.
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| A brief time of rain came by and many people took shelter here. |
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| There were enjoying the tiny tasty bits left from my lunch. |
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