- City:
- San Antonio, TX
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Swimming Pools, Paths and Trails, Picnic and Other Facilities
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Civil Works Administration (CWA)
- Started:
- 1934
- Completed:
- 1942
- Designers:
- G.T. Patrick, H.H. Cornell, John E. Kell
Description
In 1934, The Civil Works Administration built a latrine and wading pool on land in the Olmos Creek floodplain. The City Council of San Antonio named the area Franklin Fields in 1940, presumably in honor of President Franklin Roosevelt. The area was to be “fully developed as a natural forest area and to include various fields, all manner of recreation facilities, as well as for the purpose of conservation and the preservation of the natural beauty of this place.”
The park received additional federal funds for development in July 1940, when the park was designated a Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) camp. CCC Company 3804 transferred to Franklin Fields in August 1940 to begin work. CCC Company 3822V replaced Company 3804 in May 1941. They built roads, cleared bridle paths, cut underbrush, laid out athletic fields and installed picnic units. The city later renamed the park Olmos Basin Park.
Source notes
https://www.mysanantonio.com/news/article/Source-of-Olmos-Park-stones-a-mystery-2390537.php Steely, James Wright. ''Parks for Texas: Enduring Landscapes of the New Deal''. Austin: U of Texas, 1999. Print. https://tslarc.tsl.texas.gov/CCCDrawings/SP.4.3.jpgSite originally submitted by Larry Moore on August 13, 2014.
Contribute to this Site
We welcome contributions of additional information on any New Deal site.
Submit More Information or Photographs for this New Deal Site2 comments on “Olmos Basin Park – San Antonio TX”
Join the Conversation
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
Frank Macias
Gabriel Milner
In 1918 – 1919 the Olmos park neighborhood off McCullough and Hildebrand entrance was an Army Ballon camp. I was told by an older resident of the Kenwood addition who remembers seeing the balloons overhead and moored off McCullough. When I was a kid I went across McCullough and saw concrete blocks with large metal rings on the center where apparently airships were moored. I was directed there by the old man who had lived in Kenwood during those years. When exploring the Olmos basin near the dam I also ran across a plaque describing the site of a “Camp Worth” which is nowhere mentioned.
Would you be able to send a photo of this plaque to our Submissions Page? if so, we can add it to this site.