DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Wilson-Ledbetter Park in Milam County. Now, some gifts get a ribbon and a bow. Some get a card.
And some — some get twenty-five acres and a deed written straight from the heart. That's the kind of gift Lizzie Batey Ledbetter Wilson had in mind when, in 1914, she handed over that land to the City of Cameron. And she didn't dress up her reasons in legal language, either.
The deed itself says she did it out of her consideration of the love and affection for the people of Milam County and of the City of Cameron — and her desire to provide for them and their children, for all time to come, a play-ground. You don't get much more plainspoken than that. But to understand the gift, you've got to know the woman.
Lizzie was born in Tennessee in 1839, the daughter of Isaac and Julia Ledbetter. In 1853, the family settled six miles east of Cameron — right out there in Milam County soil. Then the hardship came, as it did for so many families of that era.
Both her parents died from consumption by 1863. Lizzie and her husband, William Wilson, took in her younger siblings and raised them as their own. That was just the beginning.
By the time all was said and done, Lizzie had raised more than twenty foster children. Twenty. That's not a household — that's a calling.
So when this woman turned around and gave twenty-five acres to a whole city of people, well, maybe that shouldn't surprise you. She'd been giving her whole life. Now, the park she created came to life at the height of what they called the city beautiful movement, and almost immediately organizations were lining up — encampments, meetings, recreational uses, you name it.
Cameron wanted that park, and Cameron used it. Then came the lean years. The Cameron Herald reported on November 16, 1933, that the Civil Works Administration — a federal New Deal program — would fund improvements at the park and provide work for hundreds of unemployed men.
Hundreds. In the teeth of hard times, Wilson-Ledbetter Park became a place where hands that needed work could find it. The Herald wasn't done reporting on this park, either.
On May 2, 1935, the paper said that when the Texas centennial celebration is held in Texas in 1936, Cameron should have one of the most beautiful parks in the state to contribute to the beauty spots in Texas. That's civic pride talking, and it wasn't idle boasting. What those CWA workers built was something else entirely.
Thousands of tons of native petrified wood, sand rock, and oak logs — hauled in, shaped, and set in place — to build clubhouses, barbecue pits, bridges, tables, and seats. They ran erosion control along the creeks and put in a five-acre lake stocked with fish. They even built a cabin for a park caretaker, a position still active into the 1950s.
That park had a keeper. Somebody living right there, watching over it. That tells you something.
For generations now, Lizzie Ledbetter Wilson's gift to her hometown has been doing exactly what she said she wanted it to do — providing a center for social and recreational activities, a landscape for what the marker calls unforgettable experiences. Twenty-five acres, deeded out of love, built up by working hands in hard times, and still out there in Cameron, Milam County, doing its job. Turns out a play-ground can last a good long while when it's built on the right foundation.
What the marker says
In 1914, Lizzie Batey Ledbetter Wilson deeded twenty-five acres to the City of Cameron, relating in her deed "her consideration of the love and affection for the people of Milam County and of the City of Cameron and her desire to provide for them and their children, for all time to come, a play-ground." Lizzie was born in Tennessee in 1839 to Isaac and Julia Ledbetter, and in 1853 her family settled six miles east of Cameron. Both her parents died by 1863 from consumption, and Lizzie and her husband, William Wilson, raised her younger siblings as their own children, the first of more than twenty foster children Lizzie raised. After the creation of the park at the height of the city beautiful movement, the city received numerous requests from organizations to use the park for encampments, recreational uses and meetings. The Cameron Herald reported on November 16, 1933 that the Civil Works Administration (CWA), a federal new deal program, would fund improvements at the park and provide work for hundreds of unemployed men. The Herald reported on May 2, 1935 that "when the Texas centennial celebration is held in Texas in 1936, Cameron should have one of the most beautiful parks in the state to contribute to the beauty spots in Texas." The CWA project included thousands of tons of native petrified wood, sand rock and oak logs to build clubhouses, barbecue pits, bridges, tables and seats, and for erosion control along creeks and a five-acre lake stocked with fish. A cabin was also built for a park caretaker, a position still active in the 1950s. For generations, Lizzie Ledbetter Wilson's gift to her hometown has provided a center for social and recreational activities and a landscape for unforgettable experiences.