Lake Corpus Christi State Park - Mathis TX

City:: Mathis, TX
Site Type:: Parks and Recreation, Marinas and Aquatic Parks, Paths and Trails
New Deal Agencies:: Work Relief Programs, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)
Started:: 1934
Completed:: 1936
Designers:: K. H. Scott and R. S. Rodman (landscape), Olin Boese (buildings)

Description

Lake Corpus Christi State Park is situated along Lake Corpus Christi southwest of Mathis, Texas. The land was leased from the City of Corpus Christi in 1934 and the 356-acre park was opened the same year. The park is currently administered by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Lake Corpus Christi State Park was developed by Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) Company 886. In 1934, the company formed Camp Kleberg, named for local Congressman Richard Mifflin Kleberg, a supporter of early New Deal programs including the CCC. The enrollees worked at Lake Corpus Christi until their transfer to Palmetto State Park in October 1936.

The CCC built Park Road 25 through the park. The CCC also built the refectory, the pump house and a staircase to an overlook all which stand in the park today. A boat house and small triple arch bridge the CCC built were submerged when a twenty foot taller dam was built in 1958 to increase the storage capacity of the reservoir. The structures were built from blocks that were cast by hand on site using a mixture made from locally plentiful lime-rich caliche soil mixed with cement.