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A
syndicated column in over 40 East Texas newspapers
THE FIRST ROADSIDE PARK
by
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.
March 10-16, 2002 Column
Published with Permission
Bob Bowman is a former president of the East Texas Historical Association
and the author of 28 books on East Texas history and folklore. |
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