South Park is a broad post-World War II development in the south-central area of Houston, Texas, a few miles south of MacGregor Park and directly south of the 610 Loop. According to the 2000 Census, the community has a population of 22,282. 81% of the South Park population is African American, compared to 25% for the city as a whole. Houston's Martin Luther King Boulevard (formerly South Park Boulevard) runs through the area. Reflecting its postwar origins, many streets in South Park are named after World War II battle sites and persons. In the 1980s and 1990s crime became a key issue for South Park. Katharine Shilcutt of the Houston Press said "South Park is an overgrown garden these days, its soil only able to be tilled by the most determined or the most desperate. It shows no sign that it will grow again any time in the near future."

South Park, a post-World War II development, had mostly middle class White American families during the 1950s and early 1960s. Many of the homebuyers were veterans of World War II, and streets were named after battles and people that the homebuyers knew from personal experience. When South Park served as a suburb, lawns were neatly trimmed and area children traveled to places by bicycle.

The 610 Loop opened in the 1960s. Katharine Shilcutt of the Houston Press stated that some residents believed that the opening of 610 marked the beginning of South Park's decline. Ralph Gonzales, a former resident quoted by Shilcutt, said that the opening of 610 caused traffic to increase in the area and allowed residents of other sections of the city to more easily reach South Park.

Shilcutt added that the forced integration of Jones High School and nearby Sterling High School hastened demographic changes; White families began to move to newer suburbs, such as Pasadena and Pearland. Dave Straughan, a former sergeant of the Houston Police Department's robbery division who served his rookie beat in South Park, said that several factors caused South Park to decline as a neighborhood; by the 1970s crime was beginning to increase.

In 1977 the Houston City Council voted to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by renaming South Park Boulevard, a major area thoroughfare, to Martin Luther King Boulevard. The renaming was effective on April 5, 1978.

Shilcutt said that South Park was no longer considered a suburb by the late 1980s, and that crime became a major concern. In 1987 South Park was still considered to be a mixed race neighborhood.

Schilcutt said that when the White population in South Park became insignificant in the 1990s, the City of Houston government began to ignore the remaining residents. By 1993 the infrastructure of the neighborhood had severely declined, with the sewer and water lines beginning to rust and buckle. Al Calloway, a member of the Houston City Council proposed spending a $57.5 million cash surplus on improving the sewer and water lines of South Park; Calloway said "residents in neighborhoods such as South Park or Sunnyside may die before the projects are done." The City of Houston never spent the surplus.

In October 1994 25 inches (64 cm) of rain fell in one day, causing flooding that caused the displacement of over 10,000 people in Greater Houston. The Sims Bayou overfilled, flooding businesses and houses in South Park. Few of the residents had flood insurance. Some businesses and houses were abandoned as a result of the flood.