In 1999, Charles Bland, a farmer in his seventies in Taylor, Texas, realized his community was missing something. In comments later reported by a neighbor, he said, “I see the kids don’t really have nowhere to play.”
Bland wanted to fix that and so sold 87 acres of his land to the city for just $10 to create a place for “community recreation”, saying, “I’m thinking about giving this land for parkland because these kids need somewhere to play.” A deed to the land was prepared, stipulating that it be “held in trust for future use as parkland.”
