Buescher State Park – Smithville TX

Description

Buescher State Park is connected to Bastrop State Park via a scenic 11-mile drive. This CCC project opened to the public in 1940. Mr. Emil and Mrs. Elizabeth Buescher donated the original land to the state between 1933 and 1936. Buescher was spared from the September 2011 fire that swept through Bastrop County. The park has a beautiful lake with fishing, camping, and hiking trails.

A plaque in front of the Recreation Hall states: CCC Companies 1805 and 1811 worked on Buescher between 1933 and 1939. Recruits enrolled for a six month period and received base pay of $30 month. Between $22 and$25 of that pay was sent home to the recruit’s home. The boys received room, board, uniforms, and access to medical and dental care. On the average, each boy would gain 11 1/4 pounds during his first three months in the CCC. A quote from a man who worked at Bastrop in 1933 stated that he was proud of the work he did, and said that everybody should look at the size of the rocks they worked with. He said that he came as a boy and left as a man.

CCC improvements in the park included: “Entrance Portals, Park Road 1, Road Curbs, Vehicle and Foot Bridges, Concession Building, Shelter, “Aztec” Style Settee, Chair, Armchair, and Sofa, Water Fountains, Stone Fence, Hiking Trail, Concrete Tables, Earthen Dam and Spillway, Tool House, and Pump House/Water Tower.  A Keeper’s House and a Contact Station were designed but not built; instead, the CCC remodeled the Tool House and the Pump House into a residence compound in 1937.”   (https://texascccparks.org)