Historical Marker
Parks Camp
Historical marker location:
Off US 83 on FM 576, Breckenridge, Texas
( From Breckenridge take US 183 south 6 miles to FM 576; take FM 576 east about 2 miles to marker.)
Marker installed: 1990
Founded in 1918 and named for rancher J.W. Parks, on whose land it was located, Parks Camp was a company town built for employees of the Texas Company (Texaco). The discovery of oil on Parks' land caused an economic boom in the area, and the Parks Camp at its height was home to about 15,000 people. By the 1920s the camp's facilities included a school, bank, post office, stores, community hall, doctors, and rows of individual and barracks-type housing. The town began to decline in the early 1940s and was completely abandoned by the end of World War II.