Civilian Conservation Corps at Possum Kingdom State Park

Duane's take

The way the marker at Possum Kingdom State Park tells it, here's how things went down. Company 2888 of the Civilian Conservation Corps rolled into this country in May of 1941, transferred here from Tyler with a job to do. And what a job it was.

These enrollees got to work clearing the park area and the shoreline, laying a waterline, building campsites and picnic tables, putting in culverts, and laying down more than seven miles of Park Road 33. Seven miles of road through this rugged Palo Pinto country. That is not nothing.

Back at camp, they had barracks enough for two hundred men, a library and recreation building, a kitchen and mess hall, shops, a classroom, and an infirmary. A whole small town, really, carved out of the brush and the cedar. Now, here is where the story takes a turn.

On July 13, 1942, the camp closed. The reason was simple and enormous: World War II. The country needed those young men somewhere else.

And with that, the last CCC camp in all of Texas went quiet. The last one. Every other camp had already shut its doors, and now this was the end of the line for the whole program in the state.

Company 2888 had come in second-to-last in history and left first in memory. The park they built, though, that did not close. It kept right on servin' the region, same as it does today.

Sometimes the crew moves on and the work just keeps standing.

What the marker says

The Civilian Conservation Corps Company 2888 was transferred here from Tyler in May 1941 to develop Possum Kingdom State Park. The CCC enrollees cleared the park area and shoreline, laid a waterline, built campsites and picnic tables, constructed culverts and more than seven miles of Park Road 33. The CCC camp included barracks for 200 men, a library/recreation building, a kitchen/mess hall, shops, a classroom and infirmary. Closed July 13, 1942, with the advent of World War II, this was the last CCC Camp in Texas. The park continues to serve the region. (1996)