Home > Talk of East Texas > Archives > 2009 > July > 03 > Entry
State park marks 75 years
On Sunday afternoon drives down a narrow dirt road, Mary Jane Sanders would stare out of her daddy’s car window at the hundreds of towering pine trees.
“We came here every Sunday to see what had changed, what progress had been made,” Sanders said of her family’s weekly routine about 75 years ago. “We were so excited to have a state park open on Caddo Lake in 1934.”
Caddo Lake State Park opened July 4, 1934. On Saturday, park officials plan to celebrate the 75th anniversary with several activities, including a speech by Sanders, who attended the park opening.
“We were all so excited on opening day,” Sanders said. “I was only 8 years old, but it seemed to me that the crowd was enormous. People spoke. I don’t remember what they spoke about though because I was just so excited to go into the park. We were so anxious to get in and see what the park was like.”
Sanders, 82, said her dad grew up on the shores of Caddo Lake and took his family to watch workers clear land and construct buildings for the state park.
“As they cleared the land and began to work, you really saw the area take on a new beauty,” said Sanders, of Marshall.
“The park really melded into the background of the land. It just seemed like it was meant to be here.”
What are your memories of Caddo Lake State Park?
Comments
By John1469
July 4, 2009 6:31 AM | Link to this
Very nice site!