The First 100 Years Are The Hardest

I got out Saturday afternoon to activate K-3010 Fort Parker State Park, which is located in east Texas just a few miles south of Mexia.  I stayed two hours, and took time to explore the park and read up on its history before heading home.   The park was constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps Company 3807c during the Great Depression.  The men completed a dam across the Navasota River in 1939, creating Fort Parker Lake. The dam, roads and park buildings were built using picks and shovels to quarry limestone from the local quarries, from which the county also takes its name.  The corps also built a replica of the old fort a few miles south of the park, now known as Old Fort Parker, as a 1936 centennial project. The park encompasses the old town of Springfield Texas, which at one time was larger than Dallas or Houston, but had virtually disappeared after the civil war.  The park was established in 1936 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Indian raid on...