City Lake Park

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about City Lake Park in Mesquite, Dallas County. Now settle in, because this is a story about a town that looked at a patch of raw Texas ground and decided to build something worth keeping. After World War II, the metroplex was growing fast.

Mesquite had about sixteen hundred people at the time, and new roads and subdivisions were stitching together communities that had always been a little apart from each other. Nineteen forty-seven was the year things started to shift. The city's very first park was about to get built.

Now, something like that doesn't happen by accident. It happens because certain people decide to make it happen. Local bank president N.E.

Shands, along with Anson Holley and Raymond Holley, donated twelve and a half acres to give Mesquite a recreational and gathering place near downtown. Twelve and a half acres. That's a gift worth talking about.

The plans were ambitious. A six-acre lake, a community building, picnic areas, a swimming pool. Not bad for a town of sixteen hundred.

Dallas County agreed to furnish the labor and equipment to excavate the lake basin, which tells you this was the kind of effort that had buy-in from more than just one corner. In October of that same year, nineteen forty-seven, the city of Mesquite appointed its very first park board to oversee the whole project. Then Mayor Sam Rutherford went and did something characteristically resourceful.

He moved a surplus building from Camp Maxey, that's the one near Paris, Texas, and turned it into the community building. Citizens donated plumbing, electrical work, all the finishing touches. People showed up for this place before it was even finished.

That community building didn't stay a community building forever. Over time it evolved into the Lakeside Activity Center, which became a popular rental facility for the city. The lake itself did double duty, offering recreation and flood control for the neighborhoods nearby.

The pool got upgraded over the years and eventually became the city's only aquatics center. Right next door, Mesquite Cemetery, which dates all the way back to eighteen seventy-eight, abuts the park. There's something quietly striking about that, a place of recreation shoulder to shoulder with a place of memory, both of them rooted in the same ground.

A baseball field, playgrounds, and other amenities grew along with the city in the decades that followed. And here's the number that tells you just how far a single donated patch of land can travel. Seventy years after City Lake Park was created, the Mesquite parks system consisted of seventy-six sites, including athletic fields, picnic areas, and connections to a trail system.

Seventy-six sites, growing from twelve and a half acres and a few people who believed a town of sixteen hundred deserved somewhere to gather. City Lake Park remains, as the marker puts it, a much-loved and used facility in the heart of the community. And that right there might be the best thing you can say about any public place.

What the marker says

A post-World War II population boom transformed the metroplex, including Mesquite, with a population then numbering about 1,600. In 1947, as new roads and subdivisions connected previously rural communities, the city's first park was developed. Local bank president N.E. Shands, along with Anson Holley and Raymond Holley, donated 12.5 acres to create a recreational and gathering place near downtown. Plans called for a six-acre lake, community building, picnic areas, and a swimming pool. Dallas county agreed to furnish the labor and equipment to excavate the lake basin. In October 1947, the city of Mesquite appointed its first park board to oversee the project. Mayor Sam Rutherford moved a surplus building from Camp Maxey (near Paris, Texas) for the community building, and citizens donated plumbing, electrical and other work to make it ready for use. The community building later evolved into Lakeside Activity Center, a popular rental facility for the city. The lake provided recreational opportunities and flood control for nearby neighborhoods. The pool was upgraded over the years and has become the city's only aquatics center. Mesquite Cemetery, which dates from 1878, abuts the park. Other amenities, including a baseball field and playgrounds, have grown along with the city in the decades since the park's establishment. Seventy years after the creation of City Lake Park, the city of Mesquite parks system consisted of 76 sites, including athletic fields, picnic areas, and connections to a trail system. City Lake Park remains a much-loved and used facility in the heart of the community.