Parks for Texas
Subtitle: enduring landscapes of the new deal
By: James Wright Steely.
Edition: 1st ed.
Series: Clifton and Shirley Caldwell Texas heritage series
Publisher: University of Texas Press
Published: 1999
Place of publication: Austin
Language: eng
Number of pages: 274
Subjects: Parks -- Texas -- History.
Description: Drawing on archival records and examining especially the political context of the New Deal, James Wright Steely here provides the first comprehensive history of the founding and building of the Texas state park system.

Steely's history begins in the 1880s with the movement to establish parks around historical sites from the Texas Revolution, including the Alamo and San Jacinto. The New Deal federal-state partnerships for depression relief gave Texas the funding and personnel to build 52 recreational parks under the direction of the National Park Service.

Steely focuses in detail on the activities of the Civilian Conservation Corps, whose members built parks from Caddo Lake in the east to the first park improvements in the Big Bend out west and from Palo Duro Canyon in the Panhandle to Lake Corpus Christi on the Gulf Coast.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 255-261) and index.