DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say — so you know exactly where this story comes from. Now, you want to talk about a man with a mission — and I mean that in more ways than one. Judge James Arthur White was born in Mississippi in 1878, but he made Goliad his home, his cause, and very nearly his life's work.
And Goliad, it turns out, was lucky he showed up. White served as Goliad County Judge, and he didn't just sit behind a bench. He was a man possessed — the marker says it plain — with a fervent interest in Texas history, especially the history of his adopted city.
So in 1928, he started organizing. Building support. Talking to people.
Laying groundwork for a state park that would protect Goliad's many significant historic sites. You don't rush a thing like that. By 1931, Judge White had drafted an actual bill — to create the park, and to fund a state bridge and highway that would later become U.S. 183.
Now here's where it gets interesting, because timing is everything in a story like this. The year was 1931. The Depression was not a rumor.
The financial prospects, as the marker puts it, were bleak. And yet. And yet Judge White went and secured funding and labor from the Federal Civil Works Administration in 1933.
When those funds were expended by 1934, he didn't fold. He applied to the Civilian Conservation Corps — the CCC. Preliminary study of the site began in March 1935.
By May of that year, forty cottages had been constructed, each built to house six men. Now, who were these men? This is the part of the story that stops you in your tracks.
The first CCC enrollees to arrive at Goliad were veterans — veterans of the Spanish American War, the Boxer Rebellion in China, and World War I. These were not young recruits. These were men who had already seen the world at its worst, and here they were, rolling up their sleeves to build something lasting.
They had their own newspaper — called The Goliad Veteran — and their evenings weren't idle either. Their schedule included an extensive educational program. Meanwhile, historians and architects were traveling the United States and Mexico, researching Spanish colonial mission architecture, making sure whatever got built here got built right.
Supervised by National Park Service architects and local craftsmen, the CCC workers ultimately reconstructed a school-workshop, a church, and a granary at Mission Espiritu Santo. They also erected maintenance and shop buildings, a latrine, a custodian's lodge, a museum, and an administration building, and they developed a state park road and picnic facilities. That is a lot of work from men the world might have otherwise forgotten.
Judge White wasn't done either. He served on the Texas Centennial Commission, and through his influence Goliad received a hundred thousand dollars in state and federal funds — for a Memorial Auditorium completed in 1937 and a burial monument for Colonel J. W.
Fannin and his men, completed in 1939. The CCC camp itself closed by June 1941, as the threat of World War II drew resources and attention elsewhere. Judge James Arthur White died in 1953.
But Mission Espiritu Santo still stands. The park is still there. And somewhere in Goliad, there's a marker that makes sure you know exactly who fought — through Depression budgets and bureaucratic channels and the slow grind of time — to make sure it happened.
A Mississippi man who made Goliad his own, and then made it something worth keeping.
What the marker says
Mississippi native and Goliad County Judge James Arthur White (1878-1953) possessed a fervent interest in Texas history, notably that of his adopted city of Goliad. He began in 1928 to organize support for a state park to protect Goliad's many significant historic sites. Judge White drafted a bill in 1931 to create the park and a state-funded bridge and highway (later U.S. 183). Despite the bleak financial prospects of the Depression era, Judge White secured funding and labor from the Federal Civil Works Administration in 1933. When funds were expended by 1934, White applied to the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) program. Preliminary study of the site began in March 1935. Forty cottages, each to house six men, were constructed in May. The first CCC enrollees to arrive were veterans of the Spanish American War, the Boxer Rebellion in China and World war I. They had their own newspaper, "The Goliad Veteran," and their evening schedules included an extensive educational program. Historians and architects traveled the U. S. and Mexico researching Spanish colonial mission architecture. Supervised by National Park Service architects and local craftsmen, the CCC workers ultimately reconstructed a school-workshop, church and granary at Mission Espiritu Santo and also erected maintenance and shop buildings, a latrine, custodian's lodge, museum and administration building and developed a state park road and picnic facilities. Judge White served on the Texas Centennial Commission, and through his influence Goliad received $100,000 in state and federal funds for Memorial Auditorium (1937) and a burial monument for Col. J. W. Fannin and his men (1939). The CCC camp was closed by June 1941 due to the threat of World War II. (2000)