First TX State Park Microbox
First TX State Park Microbox
| Placed By: | Silver Eagle |
|---|---|
| Date: | 12/27/05 |
| Nearest Town: | Moody, TX |
| County: | Coryell |
| Terrain Difficulty: | Easy (flat, 50 yards RT) |
| Recommended Ink: | red & blue |
| Status: | alive (05/24/09) |
Mother Neff State Park is the first official state park in Texas. It is named for Mrs. Isabella Eleanor (Mother) Neff who donated six acres of land along the Leon River in 1916 which eventually became the first park site. Her son was Texas Governor Pat M. Neff, who served as Governor from 1921 to 1925. After the death of his mother in 1921, Governor Neff created the Mother Neff Memorial Park which later became the nucleus of the Texas State Park System. Although the Legislature previously had purchased a few historical sites, the state park system did not exist until 1923, when Governor Neff urged the 38th Legislature to create the State Parks Board. The first official act of the board was to accept the small tract of land along the banks of the Leon River, which was later named Mother Neff State Park. Despite this obvious step in the right direction, the state park system still amounted to very little since it could only accept gifts of land and had no funding of its own to acquire parks. But in 1933 several things happened on the federal level that were to benefit the state's park system, not the least of which was the assignment of Civil Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) units to help develop and improve the heretofore undeveloped park areas. By the end of 1933, the federal government had spent more than $1 million on the Texas State Park System, and thanks to the help of the C.C.C., the first TX State Park was opened to the public in 1937. This box is dedicated to the C.C.C. for helping develop many of our great parks.
NOTE: Always take adequate precautions (such as prodding with a stick and/or wearing gloves) before reaching into dark crevasses and holes in the wild. Before you set out read the waiver of responsibility and disclaimer.
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Last updated on 05/25/2009