From long-time resident Danielle Baker, who recently posted “Giganta and My Semi-Charmed Life” on social media about the beloved robot at Robot Park:
I wanted to share this with everyone. This is my letter that I will be sending to the city hall in the next few moments. I encourage everyone else to please write and join the effort to save Benbrook’s Giganta.
To Whom It May Concern regarding a very special Robot,
My name is Danielle Baker, I am 40 years old, and a proud mother of three sons. All three are good boys, except for being detained by the Benbrook Police Department a few years ago for entering the pasture across from Benbrook Elementary School. They had the youthful intention of petting some cows.
I am currently the accomplished manager of the Benbrook Antique Mall. With the imminent closure of Montgomery Street Antique Mall, we will officially be the metroplex’s oldest antiques marketplace.
So let’s talk about Benbrook.
My parents moved to Benbrook in early 97 after purchasing my first horse, which was naturally stabled at Benbrook Stables. Before buying that horse, my parents and I had been driving down 377 weekly so that I could attend riding school at Curragh Equestrian Center off of 1187.
As local natives, we know that area to be called “Whiskey Flats.”
In the mid-90s, my father was experiencing great success in his contracting business.
He bought me a black horse, and soon after, the exciting purchase of our first family home.
We happily settled in on Bryant St, in the Lakeside Edition of quaint Benbrook, TX.
In those days, when you now see a 7-Eleven, there was a considerably worn blue and white bait shop sitting proudly on the corner of 820 and Hwy 377.
There was also an old wooden paneled western supply store. This store was adorned with a faux OK Corral-type fence and a life-size painted horse statue.
It sat where the new Russells sit.
The library was the somewhat mysterious and nearly forgotten occupant of a small office-type space where the Starbucks now resides.
This stretch of 377 was a sort of sleepy, glorified two-lane road with about one traffic light.
Moving to Benbrook was the American dream for my family. My mother was the picture of domestic bliss. She would often take my little brother and me to Robot Park, where we would enjoy the main attraction!
The Giganta, as I now know it to be called, was and is a GIGANTIC STEEL MULTI-LEVELED DOUBLE BARRELED SLIDE!
Those who have seen him know that he is fashioned as a robot of the atomic age. With large eyes and bolts coming out of the side of his head, he somehow manages a friendly steel countenance!
I can remember climbing up three levels to the top of his head, clamoring for position with a pack of other children. The robot would gently sway a bit as we crawled and climbed all over him.
Even as a child, I found this to be somewhat dangerous. But it was also EXHILARATING AND FUN!
As I got older, I still found myself drawn to the park again and again.
My barn friends and I would ride our horses into the park. The horses would prick their ears and eye the towering robot with some suspicion.
We would continue riding and go through the Taco Bell drive-through for a Pepsi. You know and love it now as Paisanos.
As we become teens and spend more time in our cars than on horseback, we still return to the park.
We would go to the park or cruise the lake road to get away from our parents and begin our independence.
I can remember one summer evening when many of us young people met up at Robot Park to play a legendary game of Capture the Flag. As you can imagine, The Robot makes a fantastic jail.
In the heat of the night, The Robot stood sentry over us all as it had many nights before and after.
At some point in the mid-2000s 2000s my parents left Bryant St. for Kenshire Rd.
I became a mommy and began raising my own sons off Old Benbrook Road.
I was delighted as a young mother to watch my sons play on The Robot.
Wisely, the robot’s head had been sealed off at some point, and it now felt very safe to me.
One of my sons was quite the handful, and The Robot seemed to keep him contained nicely.
As the years continued to soldier on, my parents relocated again, this time leaving Kenshire for Estes.
And I eventually left Old Benbrook Road to return home to Duane St, in the Lakeside Edition.
Throughout all of these years, The Robot has stood as a signature monument for those of us who grew up here and raised our children here.
It is a truly unique and vintage symbol that invokes irreplaceable nostalgia for the days gone by.
Things change, and there is much to celebrate about how Benbrook has grown.
I am excited about our town’s future and still proud to live here.
In conclusion, I am writing to beg the members of the city council to rethink the decision to scrap The Robot unceremoniously.
He is the last man standing in so many ways.
The Robot is a gateway to the fond memories of the past that should not be so easily discarded.
It would be good and right to find a way to preserve him as part of our town’s history.
He could perhaps be placed in a memorial garden display and maintained as a monument within the park. I am pretty sure that the talented and thoughtful persons at City Hall can find a way to make this conservation of the Giganta Robot happen.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
-Danielle Baker
Manager of The Benbrook Antique Mall and Benbrook resident since 1997
Below is the list of city council and mayor email addresses:
mayor@benbrook-tx.gov, place2@benbrook-tx.gov, place3@benbrook-tx.gov, place4@benbrook-tx.gov, place5@benbrook-tx.gov, place6@benbrook-tx.gov, place7@benbrook-tx.gov, jhinderaker@benbrook-tx.gov, ecox@benbrook-tx.gov, bhowell@benbrook-tx.gov
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