- City:
- Caddo, TX
- Site Type:
- Parks and Recreation, Infrastructure and Utilities, Lodges, Ranger Stations and Visitor Centers, Paths and Trails, Campgrounds and Cabins, Picnic and Other Facilities, Roads, Bridges, and Tunnels, Dams
- New Deal Agencies:
- Work Relief Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), Works Progress Administration (WPA)
- Started:
- 1941
- Completed:
- 1942
- Quality of Information:
- Very Good
- Site Survival:
- Extant
Description
With financing from the Works Progress Administration, the Brazos River Conservation and Reclamation District (now the Brazos River Authority) completed Morris Sheppard Dam in 1941 creating Possum Kingdom Reservoir. The district transferred 6,969 acres of land to the State of Texas for parks around the lake.
The original plans by the state included east and west units of Possum Kingdom State Park on opposite shorelines. Designers abandoned the east unit and focused on the west side. Civilian Conservation Company (CCC) Corps 2888 arrived in May 1941 and began work. The CCC enrollees provided utilities and basic services. They cleared the park area and shoreline, built a caretaker’s cottage (now part of Longhorn Lodge), entrance portal, campsites and picnic tables, and constructed the more than seven miles of Park Road 33 and necessary culverts. CCC Company 2888 abandoned its barracks on July 13, 1942, the last such company in Texas to do so, ending the Civilian Conservation Corps’ nine-year contribution to public works in Texas.
Today, the park comprises 1529 acres and is managed by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
Source notes
https://www.reporternews.com/news/2009/jun/21/wpa-projects-helped-during-hard-times/ Steely, James Wright. "Parks For Texas: Enduring Landscapes of the New Deal." Austin: U of Texas, 1999. Print. p223. The Look of Nature: Possum Kingdom https://texascccparks.org "BRAZOS RIVER AUTHORITY," (Handbook of Texas Online), accessed November 14, 2015. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association. Additional text and photos submitted by Larry Moore, November 2015.Site originally submitted by Evan Kalish on January 7, 2014.
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