Texas State Parks and the Civilian Conservation Corps

The second exhibition installed in the Bullock Museum's Rotunda Gallery highlighted the history of the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) and the construction of Texas state parks.

In the 1930s, the United States was in the throes of a financial depression. When Franklin Roosevelt became president in 1933, he created the CCC to provide jobs and training to men between the ages of 17 and 25, as well as out-of-work World War I veterans.

The Texas legislature created the Texas State Parks Board in 1923, but declined to fund the development of land into state parks. Within days of Roosevelt's creation of the CCC, Texas Governor Miriam Ferguson submitted a proposal to the federal government requesting funding for 26 CCC projects—which led to 97 work camps across the state.

Although most camps were devoted to soil-conservation and erosion-control projects, about 27 camps were responsible for the development of state parks. Photographs, maps, postcards, newsletters, and original furniture from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TWPD) collection highlighted the history of the CCC and the parks built in Texas from 1933 to 1942. 

Support for the Bullock Museum's exhibitions and education programs provided by the Texas State History Museum Foundation.