Tyler State Park

Hidden in plain site from one corner of the state to another sits some of the jewels of Texas.

The Texas State Park system is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year and it is an excellent time for those who have never visited these oases to do so.

It was in 1923 at the urging of Gov. Pat Neff that a state park board was created with the goal to create a state park system. There was one catch, however. The idea had the backing of the state legislature as long as no state funds were used.

It should come as no surprise then that the park system got off to a slow start, nor that the name Neff figured in to the first park. Located on the Leon River in Coryell County, the first state park was named for Isabella Eleanor Neff, the governor’s mother. It was created on six acres of land she had donated to the state in 1916 and expanded by another 259 acres Neff donated in 1934.

Today the park system covers 640,000 acres throughout the state and includes 89 parks, historic sites and natural areas.

Texas state park development could have languished for years from a lack of funding had it not been for the Depression-era New Deal program that brought the Civilian Conservation Corps in to build infrastructure at parks around the state. The CCC worked on more than 50 parks during the 1930s, including Tyler and Daingerfield in East Texas.

In what lore says was a punishment for a particular incident involving a soon-to-be U.S. President from Texas, that impoverished State Park Board was merged into the Texas Game and Fish Commission in 1963, creating Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

Funded by general revenue and a penny-a-pack tax on cigarettes, the merger expanded the park system even though it took more than 20 years. Beginning in the 1980s the park system added 30 sites.

But as the public became more health conscious and cigarette sales declined, revenue for parks dropped while usage grew. Those CCC buildings, changes in camping styles, the need to make facilities handicap accessible and just day-to-day repairs created a backlog of more than $1 billion in needed fixes and made adding new sites almost impossible.

That changed in a big way in 2019 when Texas voters for the second time approved a state sales tax on certain sporting goods items dedicated to funding the park system. This time the voters directed all the funds to go to the agency.

“The passage of Senate Joint Resolution 24 and ultimately Proposition 5, which had 88 percent of voters’ approval, automatically appropriating Sporting Goods Sales Tax revenue to TPWD for state and local parks, has helped to provide a predictable increase in funding to TPWD’s capital construction and repair program, and allowed for significant progress at state parks,” explained Stephanie Garcia, TPWD Press Office manager.

This fiscal year the fund will provide $465.8 million for parks. Revenue from the fund has already been used for projects such as the department’s multi-divisional regional office complex in Tyler, a new visitors center at Tyler State Park, an improved day use facility at the popular Cedar Hill State Park, upgrade to the Pedernales Falls State Park water and wastewater systems, and more.

In addition to catching up on projects, the secured funding is also helping the department prepare for the future.

“In addition to renovations and upgrades at current state park sites, TPWD has committed additional funds to developing new state parks that will provide the public with greater access to the outdoors,” Garcia said.

That includes the construction phase of 4,871-acre Palo Pinto Mountains State Park west of Fort Worth with a goal toward opening later this year. Also under development at the Devils River Natural Area in Val Verde County is the 17,669-acre Dan A. Hughes Unit and the 3,757-acre Albert and Bessie Kronkosky State Natural Area in Bandera County.

And there is need for the existing sites and more.

“Demand for parks and public lands has been steadily increasing for the past decade as the population continues to increase with more people moving to Texas or into more urban areas,” Garcia said. “This was made more evident during COVID-19 as the public was looking for activities to enjoy the outdoors, and public parkland was an ideal outlet for family and friends to gather.”

From September 2020 through August 2021, visitation increased 16% to 9.9 million from the same period two years earlier. From September 2021 through August 2022, visitation backed off some to 9.6 million, but was still 12% above the 2019-2020 mark.

“While it appears visitation and demand may start to settle down after the pandemic surge, demand for parks and outdoor spaces remains higher than they have been over the past decade,” Garcia said.

According to TPWD, overnight visitation is on the rise. During the last fiscal year, 45% of visitors stayed at least one night compared to 38% two years previously.

And visitors are not just Texans. Last year the park system attracted almost 425,000 out-of-state and foreign visitors.

Whether it’s Caddo Lake to the east, Franklin Mountains in far West Texas, Palo Duro Canyon in the Panhandle, Resaca de la Palma in South Texas or any of the other parks, historical sites and natural areas in between, the Texas park system is a gem waiting to be explored.

For more information on the 100th anniversary of the state park system, go online to TexasStateParks.org/100years or visit tpwd.texas.gov/state-parks .