The CCC operated Camp 2888 in Smith County TX. This camp built Tyler State Park between the years 1938 and 1941. A painting of that camp by one of the men of the CCC hands in the park office.
From the Tyler State park website: (
visit link)
"Creating a park
Imagine yourself with little food, less money and no job. This was the case for many Americans during the Great Depression.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933. The CCC provided jobs and job skills by hiring young men to work on conservation projects. The program enrolled men between the ages of 17 and 25 who qualified for public assistance. They earned clothing, food, medical care and $30 a month; they sent $25 of that home to their families.
Between 1935 and 1941, CCC men created this park. They built roads and buildings, planted trees, made check dams to control erosion, and erected an earthen dam to create the lake. They used local, natural materials for the culverts and bridges, to blend with the park’s landscape.
In the Beauchamp (beech-um) Springs area, they created group picnic grounds, a lily pond and a child’s wading pool. A man-made rock outcropping disguises the diversion of the spring to the lake.
State Parks Board architects designed the buildings here, using a more modern style than was used in most CCC parks. The CCC workers built a bathhouse, concession building, dance pavilion, boathouse and caretaker’s home. We still use several of these buildings today."
More detail about the "new look" of this CCC park can be found here: (
visit link)
"TYLER
Set into the Piney Woods of East Texas, Tyler State Park reflects two major park development efforts. The first, directed by landscape architect Ben K. Chambers, involved extensive forest reclamation and land rehabilitation that included tree planting, development of a road system, and construction of a dam and lake. Architect Joe C. Lair oversaw the other effort, which focused on the development of essential park buildings. Particularly noteworthy, the architect’s designs represent a clear break from the National Park Service rustic style so often used at CCC parks, including many in Texas. Lair displayed a familiarity with the Prairie Style, made popular by architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and helped to usher in a more modern style in the combination building, bath house, boat house, and residence by using concrete and wood framing and emphasizing linear geometric forms. The transitional nature of Lair’s work is significant because of its timing toward the end of the CCC’s run of park projects in Texas."