DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. In August of 1935, on the old town site of Springfield — a place that had already seen its share of history — something new was about to take shape. The Civilian Conservation Corps came to Limestone County with a mission: build Fort Parker State Park from the ground up.
And the group handed that job was Company 3807(C), an African American CCC Camp. What they were asked to do, out here on this stretch of Texas land, was nothing short of remarkable. Now settle in, because this story earns its ending.
From 1935 to 1942, Company 3807(C) went to work. And I do mean work. They constructed park buildings.
They carved out roads and put up facilities. They erected a dam across the Navasota River. And they reconstructed old Fort Parker — which, sitting nearby, was rebuilt specifically in preparation for the Texas Centennial observance of 1936.
That fort was the first of the CCC projects completed, the opening note of a long and serious symphony. Then came the dam. The dam that created Lake Fort Parker was concluded by 1938, and friend, that is not a sentence you gloss over.
To get there, the men of Company 3807(C) broke rock and hauled it for cement. They dug out dam footings, a spillway, and wing walks. They poured cement for the dam itself.
Every foot of that lake bottom has their labor underneath it. And the park facilities — clearing and building five miles of roads, constructing an activity center and bathhouse, putting in drinking fountains, pouring cement picnic tables. The kind of work that doesn't announce itself but holds everything else together.
In May of 1941, former Texas Governor Pat Neff came out and dedicated Fort Parker State Park, declaring it open to the public. And in 1942, after completing several complex tasks over a span of almost seven years, Company 3807(C) was transferred out of the area. They left behind a lake, a fort, a park — and the kind of work that outlasts the names of the men who did it.
This marker, placed in 1997, is one small way of making sure those names aren't entirely forgotten.
What the marker says
In August 1935, construction of a state park began here on the former town site of Springfield under the direction of the Civilian Conservation Corps. The group assigned to build Fort Parker State Park was Company 3807(C), an African American CCC Camp. From 1935 to 1942, the park company constructed park buildings, roads and facilities, erected a dam across the Navasota River, and reconstructed old Fort Parker. Located nearby, old Fort Parker was rebuilt in preparation for a Texas Centennial observance in 1936, and was the first of the CCC projects completed. The dam that created Lake Fort Parker was concluded by 1938 and required breaking and hauling rock for cement, digging out the dam footings, spillway, and wing walks, and pouring cement for the dam. Creating the park facilities included clearing and building five miles of roads, constructing an activity center / bath house, drinking fountains, and cement picnic tables. Former Texas Governor Pat Neff dedicated Fort Parker State Park in May 1941, and declared it open to the public. Company 3807(C) was transferred out of the area in 1942 after completing several complex tasks over a span of almost seven years. (1997)