Bathhouse working group suggests city start process to rename Barton Springs

At its regular meeting on Nov. 27, the Parks and Recreation Board heard from the Barton Springs Bathhouse Working Group about its report, which includes a list of potential names for an updated bathhouse in addition to calling for the city to also reexamine the name of Barton Springs.

The working group was established to recommend a name for the Barton Springs Bathhouse, which is currently undergoing an extensive rehabilitation project. The group was also tasked with recommending how the city might incorporate educational installations that place the racial and cultural history of Barton Springs and its desegregation in an appropriate context.

The working group recommended the following names, in no particular order:

• Means Bathhouse – reflecting the important works of the Means family, including Joan Means Khabele and her mother, Bertha Sadler Means, a civil rights activist in Austin
• Joan Means Khabele Bathhouse – reflecting her instrumental role in desegregating Barton Springs Pool
• Means-Martinez Bathhouse – reflecting the joint contributions of Joan Means Khabele and David Martinez with desegregating Barton Springs Pool
• Yanaguana Springs Bathhouse – a Coahuiltecan word that means “spirit waters” and can also be used as a term to refer to a spring feature
• Tza Wan Pupako Springs Bathhouse – the Coahuiltecan term used to refer specifically to Barton Springs

“Furthermore, although not in the scope of the WG’s objective, a recurring question was whether the name ‘Barton’ is representative of the values this city holds and whether there is a better name for the spring,” the report reads. “Based on known information regarding William Barton, specifically his ownership of enslaved people, and the Confederate Monuments Resolution (No. 20171005-031) Report, the WG is also recommending that Barton Springs be renamed.”

The report does not suggest any potential replacement names but recommends that the parks board “make a recommendation to City Council that a renaming process be implemented.” It suggests implementing a “robust” community input process from historically underserved and underrepresented communities.

The group included Parks and Recreation Board Chair Pedro Villalobos and Board Member Stephanie Bazan, as well as Michael Cannatti of Barton Springs Conservancy, educator of African and African diaspora studies Edmund T. Gordon, and Travis County District Clerk Velva Price. The working group was assisted by Parks and Recreation Department Director Kimberly McNeeley; Jessica Gilzow of the Natural Resources Division; Karen Kocher, professor of Radio-Television-Film at the University of Texas; and Native American researcher Gary Perez.

“One of the recurring questions that we kept coming to every meeting was whether the name ‘Barton’ was an appropriate name for the spring,” Villalobos said. “I think at some point all of us started referring to the spring as ‘the Spring’ instead of Barton Spring, and that’s because of the baggage that it carries with it. So although not in the scope of the working group’s objective, we are recommending, based off of William Barton’s known ownership of enslaved people and, given the Confederate Monuments Resolution passed by City Council, we are recommending that there be an effort to rename Barton Springs.”

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Posted In: Parks, District 5