David
E. ColpDavid
E. ColpDavid E. Colp (1867-1936) received the Pugsley Bronze Medal “for his services in establishing a state parks system in Texas”. He was born on a farm near Paris, Texas, in 1867. By the early years of the twentieth century, he had become a prominent resident of San Antonio and was owner of an automobile dealership in the city. He was a leader of the Texas Good Roads Association which was organized in 1911. At that time only about one-fourth of the 130,000 miles of public roads in Texas were graded and responsibility for maintaining and improving them rested entirely with county government. The Association lobbied for a central state authority to plan, fund and maintain a state highway system. Between 1910 and 1920, Colp served 8 years as secretary of the Texas Good Roads Association and was a charter member and co-manager of three major interstate highway projects -- The Old Spanish Trail, the Meridian Highway and the Glacier to Gulf Highway. This latter organization was promoting the building of a road stretching from national parks in the northwest region of the country to the Gulf Coast. – and was manager of each highway's Texas division. His efforts were sufficiently prominent that they spawned a popular song in the state, “When Colp Pulls Texas Out of the Mud”!
Because of his long-standing affiliation with those major interstate highway projects, which ran for thousands of miles across the nation, Colp was more familiar than most other Texans were with national developments pertaining to state parks. By the mid 1920s, a new automobile was rolling off Ford's Detroit assembly lines every ten seconds. Like other advocates of improved roadways, Colp recognized the connection between a growing appreciation for nature and outdoor recreation and the vacationing automobile tourist. Parks, in the highway promotion business meant more tourists, which in turn meant more tourism dollars to local economies. The great national parks of the west had become major tourist attractions and many states had unified park systems, which became substantial tourist venues.
In 1923, the Texas State Legislature approved a bill vigorously promoted by Governor Pat Neff making provisions for state parks and game reserves in Texas. The bill established a five-member state parks board to be appointed by the governor to serve without compensation. When David Colp was appointed by Governor Neff to chair the new board, he was reluctant because it meant disengaging from his role in highway advocacy. Nevertheless, the governor persisted and Colp accepted the position. Years of observing other states' successes with parks had convinced Colp that once a state park system had been established to showcase the state's scenic beauties, Texas would become a "Mecca" for the automobile tourist.
Colp brought extraordinary energy and commitment to the position. It became essentially a full-time obsession. His years of involvement with efforts to improve state highways, both as a businessman and as a member of citizen lobbying groups, were especially valuable to the state parks board promotion effort. He vigorously pursued the vision he shared with Governor Neff of an eventual system of state parks along Texas’ major arterial highways
Under the terms of the enabling legislation, the Board could accept donated lands after their inspection and approval by the park board members and, while no funds were authorized for the purchase of park sites, the legislature left open the possibility that the state might eventually buy some lands for parks where donations were not forthcoming. The initial goal of Colp and Neff was to acquire a large number of local small parks at beauty spots along highways that would attract intercity motorists.
To bring this goal to fruition, assistance was needed from local officials. Thus, Colp and the board attempted to recruit one person in each Texas county to serve as county park commissioner. The task of these commissioners was to canvas their counties for land that met the criteria to be a state park stipulated by the state parks board. Each park site was required to be near a main highway, have water and shade and, whenever possible, possess historical significance or exceptionally meritorious scenery. Colp energetically and persistently encouraged, prodded, flattered and cajoled the commissioners into recommending sites that could be donated for state parks. Park board members criss-crossed the state inspecting sites recommended to them by the county park commissioners. The ultimate objective of the board, enthusiastically endorsed by Governor Neff, was to have at least one state park for every 100 miles of highway.
Colp wrote 100-500 letters a month as part of this effort. In addition, he arranged for stories of Texas' efforts to develop state parks to appear regularly in national magazines and in the state's major newspapers. He was avidly supported by Governor Neff who traveled extensively with parks board members to review sites and speak out in favor of creating a system of state parks.
By 1925, the Board had secured the deeds for 64 of these proposed small state parks. Governor Neff made their acceptance by the legislature the focus of his address at the joint session marking the opening of the 1925 legislative session. He asked the legislature to appropriate $50,000 for maintenance and support of the system and to accept the deeds for lands submitted for potential state parks. The legislature rejected this overture and authorized the parks board to accept deeds tendered to the state "only upon condition that the maintenance, beautification and continued upkeep thereof be guaranteed by the donor thereof, or by some city, county or other local subdivision."
This legislative action gutted the work of the parks board, since it meant most of the deeds that had been obtained at that point would revert back to the donors. Nevertheless, this did not dampen Colp's spirits for long. Indeed, it may have been a factor in motivating him to continue with his crusade. At the next legislative session in 1927, Colp emerged with 23 of the small "state parks" accepted by the legislature, promising legislators that each of these parks could be serviced through operating profits.
After these initial sorties in the legislature, there was a five or six year period in which relatively little was accomplished. However, during this period park advocates increasingly focused their attention upon the acquisition of large parks beyond the small highway way-stations which characterized the early acquisitions. The legislature was unresponsive until the Depression years and President Roosevelt's New Deal provided a key stimulus. In 1933, a writer in Texas Parade Magazine reported Texas still "has no state parks worthy of the name." By two years later, things had changed dramatically, as the Texas Legislature was receptive to receiving the substantial financial assistance for parks construction offered under President Roosevelt's federal work relief programs, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Renewed activity on the part of the parks board between 1933 and 1935 resulted in acquisition of 275,000 acres of land, most of which was donated to the state. Because parks afforded opportunities to employ large numbers of relief workers, they were favored designations for CCC projects, but CCC assistance was limited to parks with a minimum of 500 acres. The legislature in its 1933 session approved the sale of $5.5 million of bonds to provide matching funds for federal assistance. Land and labor were cheap in the Depression and these funds facilitated substantial park acquisition and development.
A Dallas News article in 1933 noted, "It was an ill wind that made the need of the Civilian Conservation Corps, but one which has been laden with profit for the State Parks Board." Between 1933 and 1935 over 30 large state parks were acquired and developed. Thirty-five camps housed 7,000 CCC youths by the mid 1930s, working on roads, dams, concession houses, pools, lodges, golf courses and picnic facilities. During this period, one of Colp's Texas contemporaries observed that he performed "the job of a super man... A gigantic amount of work had been thrust upon him... Being limited by insufficient help and desiring to please, he worked night and day, driving over the State... and did not find time to rest".
By June 1936, Texas Parade featured an article on the state's parks entitled "Texas: A State of Beautiful Parks" bragging, "From 15,000 acre Palo Duro Canyon to 35,000 acre Caddo Lake on the upper Louisiana line, and from little Goose Island Park on the Gulf Coast at Rockport to the 5,700 acre Davis Mountains Park a mile above sea level, facilities of astonishing beauty and appropriateness are being built".
Colp was inbred with a sense of noblesse oblige. He evaluated his entire career in terms of service to his fellow Texans. In 1934, a reporter for the Dallas News wrote, "Mr. Colp under spur of no other reward than the qualification of a patriotic ambition, has worked indefatigably to convert the scenic beauties of the State from private possession into a public heritage."
Colp died of "double pneumonia" in January 1936, collapsing while on a site visit to Bastrop State Park. At the time of his death, state newspapers reported that in consultation with the National Park Service and the Mexican government, he was exploring the feasibility of an international park and wildlife preserve that would encompass more than 1 million acres of land on both sides of the Rio Grande River. He lived long enough to see the realization of his dream of a usable state park system comprising over 30 large parks and approximately 30 small parks located across the state. At his death, former Governor Neff proclaimed, "Texas has lost a great citizen... I know of no man who has done more to contribute to the lasting happiness of future generations by his work for better roads and parks."