Chickasaw National Recreation Area, Platt National Park - Sulphur OK

City:: Sulphur, OK
Site Type:: Parks and Recreation, Infrastructure and Utilities, Swimming Pools, Paths and Trails, Campgrounds and Cabins, Picnic and Other Facilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels
New Deal Agencies:: Work Relief Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Started:: 1933
Completed:: 1940

Description

The CCC was extensively involved in development of the portion of the Chickasaw National Recreation Area formerly known as Platt National Park:

“Originally known as Sulphur Springs Reservation, and later renamed Platt National Park, the park was established in 1902 through an agreement with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations and the federal government…

Though a number of landscape elements in the Platt District relate to the early period of the park’s establishment, the majority of historic landscape resources relate to the period 1933-1940.

During this period, NPS professionals planned and designed extensive park infrastructure which was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Elements included mineral spring pavilions, campgrounds, picnic areas, dams and waterfalls; these were linked by a network of roads and trails. Over one-half million trees and shrubs were planted and an ambitious silviculture program implemented. The CCC work group at Platt National Park was the largest and longest running of any in Oklahoma, employing about 200 workers at any given time between 1933 and 1940.

…In the 1970s, the park merged with the Arbuckle Recreation Area to become Chickasaw National Recreation Area. The former national park lands became designated as the Travertine District, later renamed the Platt District.” (www.nps.gov)

Source notes

https://www.nps.gov/chic/historyculture/remembering_platt-np.htm Marjorie Barton, _Leaning on a Legacy: The WPA in Oklahoma_, Oklahoma Heritage Association, 2008. Pg. 23.