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Arkansas State Parks history
Arkansas State Parks company history timeline
The CCC began developing its facilities and roadworks in 1933.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933.
6/8/1933 News breaks about the park coming to Petit Jean.
8/5/1933 Sam Davies meets with State Hwy Engineer Rhyne in Little Rock.
1934 During this year the present bath house (for the CCC camp), latrine and stone ice box was built.
8/16/1934 Sam Davies asks locals to catch and donate live rats to the state park zoo for feeding the snakes.
8/30/1934 Petit Jean VCC camp came in second in the district after Roaring River in Missouri.
J. D. Petty is given command of the company. (Sam Davies Bi-monthly Narrative, August 14, 1935)
7/13/1935 Captain Treece is now Major Treece and given command of the NE Sub-district, based in Morrilton.
7/19/1935 Frank H. Culley of the Regional Office visited the camp.
12/3/1935 Gov Futrell declined to move $5000 from AGFC to the APC so that Petit Jean can purchase 160 acres of land.
10/29/1936 The Department of Interior announced that 18,000 visitors came to Petit Jean State Park in the four months of June-September, 1936.
4/4/1937 Company 1781 holds an open house for the public in honor of the 4th Anniversary of the CCC’s. (Morrilton Democrat)
5/14/1937 The new State Park Commission met at Petit Jean at Mather Lodge.
New plumbing is put into the bathhouse and a concrete wash trough is installed. (CCC Scrapbook, 1937)
5/23/1938 The first Park Superintendent was hired.
11/2/1938 Sidney Kennedy, parks planner for NPS, has been in the state and meeting with Sam Davies, D. N. Graves and others.
1/1/1939 WPA begins building the addition onto the lodge.
4/11/1939 Commission meets at Petit Jean and discusses the option of an Auto Fee to offset maintenance costs in the parks. .25 per vehicle or $1 annual is proposed, but the decision is made to wait until the following year.
Later, the building is purchased and donated to the YMCA for use as a camp until the 1940’s, and then it is torn down.
1940 The lodge addition is complete, bringing the number of rooms to 30 with 8 housekeeping cabins and 7 double overnight cabins.
1/25/1940 A photo of Cedar Falls frozen solid is published in the Arkansas Gazette, and skating parties are reported to have been held on Lake Bailey.
5/5/1940 The State Parks are formally opened for the season.
7/14/1940 Paving begins, and when complete will make a hard surface road from Morrilton to the park. (Arkansas Gazette)
4/1941 Eighth Anniversary of the CCC (Morrilton Headlight)
8/6/1941 Some 60 men still remain at Petit Jean, but are soon to be transferred. (The Mountain Echo)
1948 Hardison Hall, named after Doctor T.W. Hardison, is built by a contractor for Arkansas State Parks.
1975 Hardison Hall is used for groups by the Youth Conservation Corp, and is then closed because of plumbing and electrical problems.
1977 Cedar Creek Canyon is added to the register of Arkansas Natural Areas.
3/1989 Wally Scherrey, after serving as Park Superintendent at Devil's Den State Park, is named the new Superintendent at Petit Jean State Park.
In 1996, Arkansas voters passed a constitutionally dedicated conservation sales tax benefiting Arkansas State Parks and three sister conservation agencies.
1996 The Arkansas State Parks exhibit shop is awarded 3rd Place for “Interpretive Media Award” by the National Association for Interpretation, in the category of “Exhibits: Petit Jean, Arkansas’ First State Park”.
1999 Petit Jean State Park is recognized as a national landmark for outstanding landscape architecture by the American Society of Landscape Architects.
30 & 31, 2000 – The Seven Hollows Area of Petit Jean Mountain is on fire.
2001 Petit Jean State Park is voted “Best State Park” in the “7th Annual Family Favorites” in Little Rock Family magazine.
Lake Fort Smith State Park was closed in 2002 for a massive expansion project to the lake itself.
2002 Petit Jean State Park is voted “Best State Park” in the “8th Annual Family Favorites” in Little Rock Family magazine.
6/3/2004 Petit Jean State Park is presented a Certificate of Lifetime Membership to the National Association of Civilian Conservation Corps Alumni.
2005 Petit Jean State Park is awarded “Park of the Year” for Region II.
2006 Petit Jean State Park is a finalist in “Best of the Best” in Central Arkansas in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette for “Best Walking/Hiking, Jogging Trail”.
8/30/2008 Iron Mike statue honoring the work of the Civilian Conservation Corp at Petit Jean State Park is dedicated during the park "Founders Day" celebration.
5/8/2012 Mather Lodge, the historic mountain lodge on the bluff of Cedar Creek Canyon at Petit Jean State Park, reopens following a year and half long renovation.
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