Texas Roadside Parks Study Historic Context & National Register Requirements An historic overview of the development and evolution of roadside parks and rest areas in Texas constructed by the Texas Department of Transportation from 1930 to 2015 and evaluation criteria for listing in the National Register of Historic Places. Prepared by: Sara Gredler, Megan Ruiz, Heather Goodson and Rick Mitchell, Mead & Hunt, Inc. The environmental review, consultation, and other actions required by applicable Federal environmental laws for this project are being, or have been, carried-out by TxDOT pursuant to 23 U.S.C. 327 and a Memorandum of Understanding dated 12-16-14, and executed by the FHWA and TxDOT . TxDOT Environmental Affairs Division Released: May 2015 420.14.GUI Table of Contents Page Part I Historic Context ........................................................................................................................... 4 A. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 4 B. Setting the Stage for Roadside Parks, 1860s – 1930 ........................................................... 11 1. The Idea of the Park ......................................................................................................... 11 2. Importance of the Highway and the Rise of Automobile – Good Roads Movement ... 16 3. Introduction of the State Highway Systems ................................................................... 17 4. Early State Highways in Texas ......................................................................................... 20 C. The Depression and the Idea of the Roadside Park, 1930 – 1941 ....................................... 22 1. General Effects of the Great Depression ....................................................................... 22 2. Changes in Highway Design and the Introduction of Beautification on Roads ........... 25 3. The Refinement of the Rustic Aesthetic ......................................................................... 28 4. Roadside Improvement: Constructing the Roadside Park in Texas ............................. 32 5. The Texas Centennial and its Aftermath ........................................................................ 56 D. The World War II Period, 1941 – 1945 ................................................................................... 61 1. Effect of War Funding on Roadside Parks and Beautification ...................................... 61 E. Roadside Improvement Immediately After World War II, 1945 – 1950s ............................... 65 1. Planning Highway Design Changes and the Impact on Roadside Parks ..................... 65 F. Modernizing designs, 1950s – 1960s.................................................................................... 73 1. Interstate Highways and the Safety Rest Area ............................................................... 73 2. Mission 66 and Postwar Park Design ............................................................................. 75 3. THD Roadside Parks and Safety Rest Areas in the 1950s ........................................... 77 G. Interstate Highways and Safety Rest Areas, mid-1960s – early 1970s ................................ 87 1. National Trends ................................................................................................................ 87 2. Texas Trends .................................................................................................................... 95 3. Lady Bird Johnson and Texas Beautification .............................................................. 103 H. Late-Twentieth-Century Trends, 1970s – 1990s.................................................................. 106 1. Role of Safety Rest Area’s in Roadside Development ................................................ 106 2. Regional and State Trends ........................................................................................... 107 I. Recent developments, 2000s – present .............................................................................. 113 1. National Trends ............................................................................................................. 113 2. Texas Trends ................................................................................................................. 113 Part II National Register Requirements ............................................................................................ 119 2 A. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 119 B. Overview of the Property Types ............................................................................................. 120 1. Definitions of roadside park types ............................................................................... 120 2. Types of roadside park features .................................................................................. 121 3. Examples of roadside park layouts .............................................................................. 139 4. Essential Physical Features by Development Period .................................................. 142 C. Determining Significance of a Roadside Park ...................................................................... 144 1. National Register of Historic Places Evaluation Criteria Overview ............................ 144 2. Application of Criterion A to roadside parks ................................................................ 145 3. Application of Criterion C to roadside parks ................................................................ 151 4. Defining period of significance..................................................................................... 156 D. Assessing Historic Integrity ................................................................................................... 158 1. Identifying essential physical features ........................................................................ 158 2. Assessing historic integrity ........................................................................................... 159 E. Establish NRHP Eligibility ...................................................................................................... 167 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................................... 168 3 Part I Historic Context A. Introduction The expanding role of highways in our automobile-oriented society makes increasing demands upon the imagination and abilities of the highway engineer and others concerned with highway development. Landscape design principles, as presented and practiced by the professional landscape architect, should be considered during all phases of the design process. These landscape design principles should include the very broad and inclusive aspects of integrating the highway with its environment. From A Guide for Highway Landscape and Environmental Design, American Association of State Highway Officials, 1970. The Texas highway system has long been hailed as a national leader in terms of both mileage and road quality. Since the early 1930s, Texas has proudly featured its roadside parks and rest areas as a focal point of its road system, serving both day-to-day highway travelers and tourists visiting the “Lone Star State.” The design, materials, and overarching philosophy behind the construction of these resources were closely linked to prevailing state and national trends, both in park design and highway design. Roadside parks and rest areas therefore occupy a distinctive place as resource types, melding highway engineering with park-oriented design and landscape architecture. The study of Texas’s historic roadside parks and rest areas provides a unique viewpoint from which to illustrate and understand the evolution of the state’s highway network. During the Great Depression, naturalistic park design, ample availability of work-relief labor, a concerted push for highway beautification and “roadside improvement,” and preparations for the 1936 Texas Centennial coalesced in the construction of several hundred roadside parks around the state. These parks typically featured the use of stone masonry or timber for built structures and objects, executed in the Rustic style popularized in national and state park construction of the period. The Depression-era parks were designed to blend with the surrounding landscape, providing restful stops for leisurely picnics and relaxation. Following World War II, the Texas highway system experienced rapid growth, but lacked the inexpensive work-relief labor that had been available a decade earlier. Texas Highway Department (THD) efforts after the war focused on rapid expansion of primary highways and Farm-to-Market roads, with little apparent interest in new construction of roadside parks or other roadside improvements, according to THD literature. However, construction history indicates a small number of new parks were built in this period, as well as some reconstruction and replacement of prewar parks. These postwar parks utilized new standard plans and featured more modern designs. A notable exception to these trends was the construction of several parks along the Davis Mountains Scenic Loop, completing a prewar development plan that employed the Rustic aesthetic. The construction of the Interstate Highway