Popular Spring Lake Park turns 100 today

Dax Harvia, from left, Trinity Harvia, Courtney Harvia and Josiah Harvia take a walk Friday, May 20, 2016 around Spring Lake Park. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the park.
Dax Harvia, from left, Trinity Harvia, Courtney Harvia and Josiah Harvia take a walk Friday, May 20, 2016 around Spring Lake Park. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the park.

Having existed an entire century as of today, Spring Lake Park continues to be a major recreational spot in this part of Northeast Texas and perhaps in the country.

Born on May 21, 1916, the park and its natural lake, according to a 1916 article in the Four States Press and Texarkana Courier, opened to the general public under the management of C.W. Greenblatt.

"The park has a natural lake and individual beauty that, for a surrounding in keeping with a resort, would be hard to surpass anywhere else in the United States," the article stated.

Eight years after that recognition of Spring Lake Park, Texarkana, Texas, city officials recognized it in 1924 as the first major municipal park in the region.

"Just as Central Park serves as a green oasis in the middle of New York City, so also does Spring Lake Park provide an easily accessible 75-acre-area," city officials stated as they applied, in 2012, for the park's designation by the state as a Lone Star Legacy Park.

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John Deering Editorial Cartoon 4/21/13

During the last 10 decades, the park has hosted and continues to be the home of many events specific to local, state and national organizations, including: local dances, the Boy Scouts of America's annual Scout-O-Rama, various veterans' celebrations, the 1991 Americans with Disabilities Act fishing derby, part of Run the Line-Half Marathon, family reunions, the Saint Jude Walkathon and the Senior Special Olympics.

Through the years, Spring Lake Park has also served as a home to both special and specific natural features formed around not only its natural springs, but also in the area that carved and crafted the small lake from which it still takes its name.

The park grew from a former park founded in 1887 by Anthony L. Ghio. He developed and opened part of the same grounds to the community-grounds that eventually became known as Spring Lake Park after having been known as Ghio Park for at least 29 years.

However, since becoming a municipal park in 1924, the park has served as a healthy playground for families, as well as a recreational spot for individuals of all ages and an easily accessible area for visitors to experience uncorrupted nature scenes.

While much of the park's space and natural surroundings have remained pristine since its genesis, several improvements have been added as the park grew. Some of these improvements include a horse track built in 1943 and the Four States Fair being added in 1945.

The park's more current amenities include: three different sets of playground equipment; a splash pad; seven baseball and softball fields; a winding walking, jogging and biking trail; a pavilion for large gatherings; a disc golf course; green spaces for flying kites; a soccer field; fishing docks; and many assorted grilling areas for picnickers.

To this day, there are still many natural amenities and activities that are combined with the community's consistent park use, and the park itself remains as a culturally diverse wellspring close to Texarkana's geographical center. The park is used by individuals as well as groups, families, schools and civic organizations as a meeting place, recreational site and retreat. That is perhaps why the park continues to be a major part of the Texarkana lifestyle for numerous people living in the region.

While serving as a significant and vital asset for the city, the park won the Texas Cultural Trust Medal of Arts Award in 2008, and it's still supported by some key local groups such as the Friends of the Park organization. The organization is a volunteer group that raises funds to support the park's upkeep. In more recent times, this group raised funds to build a sign for the park-now posted near Interstate 30 and its access road.

Through the years, long-term bonds have developed and flourished between the park and local school districts, which conduct student field trips there. The park also hosts state and regional baseball tournaments and musical concerts featuring local and regional artists, in addition to movies in the park each spring and fall.

Spring Lake Park is clearly popular and well used. It's a significant part of the growing Texarkana community, and it likely always will be.

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