The Fort Worth Nature Center & Refuge and the CCC

Many times my family and I have hiked the trails at the Fort Worth Nature Center and Refuge.  I was fortunate to have the conservation area right down the street from where I grew up in Azle, TX.  This is one of I don't know how many ancient (can I call things from 1930 ancient yet? I think I will) stone buildings erected in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps, during a period of time when the FWNC&R was known as State Park 31.

The CCC was part of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression.  Between the years of 1933 and 1942, the relief program gave millions of young men employment.  Most of whom were unskilled, unemployed and came from families on government assistance.  It gave them the opportunity to support their families and some even received basic education--approximately 57,000 illiterate men learned how to read and write in the camps.

Roosevelt's "Tree Army" planted over 3.5 billion trees, making the CCC responsible for over half of the reforestation in the nation's history.

Sometimes there's more to old stone port-a-Johns in the woods than piss and shit.