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THE FIRST ROADSIDE PARKby
Bob Bowman | |
"Wingate's
park still stands in Newton County, three miles southeast of the town of Newton,
where it is maintained in a style befitting the first in Texas."
"Newton County's pioneer park was more than just a few picnic tables
beside the highway. It also included a bath house on Cow Creek, a favorite
swimming hole in Newton County." |
One of the minute
morsels of Texas history
is that the state's first roadside park was built in 1930 beside Cow Creek on
U.S. Highway 190 in Newton Country, a part of lower East
Texas.
But history doesn't record the troubles the late R.W. Wingate of Woodville encountered
in trying to get this piece of trivia corrected in the history of Texas' highways.
In 1930 Wingate was working as a road foreman for the old Texas Highway Department
(it is now known as the Texas Department of Transportation) when he built the
roadside park on land donated by Mr. and Mrs. L. Wilkerson. The highway at that
time was known as Texas 87.
In the mid-l970s when the Highway Department
put together a history of its accomplishments, the state's first roadside park
was credited to Fayette Country, where a park was built six years and 32 days
later than Wingatešs creation in Newton County.
Bothered by the error,
Wingate -- now retired -- made it a personal odyssey to rectify the piece of history.
He spent weeks gathering evidence, including statements from people who participated
in the Cow Creek opening, old newspaper accounts and copies of the Wilkersons'
property deeds. Wingate's accumulation of evidence offered proof that not just
one East Texas roadside park,
but three, were built before the Fayette
County park.
Jasper County's park on U.S. Highway 96 was built five
years and 64 days before Fayette
County and Tyler County's park on U.S. 287 preceded the mid-Texas stop by
two years and three days.
Newton
County's pioneer park was more than just a few picnic tables beside the highway.
It also included a bath house on Cow Creek, a favorite swimming hole in Newton
County.
Armed
with his evidence, Wingate appealed to the Texas Highway Commission in Austin,
asking that the error be corrected. He reminded the Austin
bureaucrats the Newton County park had the approval of Division Engineer E.R.
Madden, Texas Highway Engineer Gibb Gilchriest, and Texas Highway Commission Chairman
Judge Ealy.
The Commission knew Wingate had them over a barrel and in
1975 the Commission passed an official order recognizing Newton County's 1930
park and Wingate's role in its construction.
"He pioneered the concept
which became the inspiration for today's hundreds of safety rest areas for enjoyment,
convenience and safety of the traveling public," said the order. "Mr.
Wingate helped establish traditions that evolved into traveler amenities along
the state highway system of Texas."
Wingate's
park still stands in Newton County, three miles southeast of the town of Newton,
where it is maintained in a style befitting the first in Texas.
But, unfortunately, a plaque at the site says the park was built in 1936 -- six
years later than Wingate's inception date. | |
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