JULY 2015
PA R K E R C O U N T Y T O D AY
tory of the park and reads:
“Confederate soldiers are said to have camped here in the
1860s because of the inviting spring. In 1890, veterans used
the site for their 25th reunion. During the next year, 55
acres were set aside as Soldier Spring Park. Chataqua programs (1910-28), circuses, town gatherings, other reunions
and the public hanging of a criminal (1908) occurred here
before the park fell into disuse. The city dump (1934-53)
and then a caliche mine, the area reverted to park use in
1973. Civic groups joined to develop recreational facilities
and restore natural beauty with native plantings.”
Also at the park is a plaque reading:
"Dedicated to the Citizens of Parker County who by
their labor made possible the restoration of the park for
recreation and the study of our environment by the City of
Weatherford, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Bureau of Outdoor Recreation and the United States Department of the Interior."
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The Battle Sides
At a recent Park Board meeting, the Weatherford Mountain Bike Club, represented by longtime Weatherford
resident and civil engineer Lawrence Colvin, submitted a
proposal to make an addition to Soldier Spring Park’s current path system and develop mountain bike trails to allow
riders to use the area’s natural topography to ride through
the natural beauty of the park. His group wants to shift the
responsibility for creating trails, rehabilitation of current
trails and maintenance to his group, which has a long history of successful partnership with public entities. On the
other side of the debate is a group calling itself Friends of
the Beauty Way led by park neighbors Laura and Michael
Anderson. They want to keep the park the way it is and
have the City of Weatherford continue all park maintenance. They point to the legacy of Grace Cartwright and
her conservation efforts in all of Weatherford’s parks, but
especially Soldier Spring Park, and want the park to stay in
its natural state as a conservation area.
Grace Cartwright, or “Amazing Grace,” was a community
activist who was successful in raising funds and adding to
the amenities available at the City of Weatherford’s parks.
She created the Spring Festival in 1974 specifically as a fundraiser for the parks. According to Cartwright, quoted in a
newspaper article printed at the time, “It involves everyone
and that’s the joy of it. Without the festival we could never
have developed the parks we have.” Starting with only $79,
she was able to win an environmental grant from the Sears
Foundation along with other funds that transformed the
Soldier Spring area from a public dumping ground to a city
park. Her hard work earned her recognition in Washington
D.C ., winning the Lyndon B. Johnson Award for Community Service, and in Austin when she was nominated to
the Texas Women’s Hall of Fame. She was called the "first
woman conservationist in Parker County." While she was
active in improving the parks, they received three national
and numerous state awards for beautification. Her efforts
while on the City of Weatherford’s parks board made her
instrumental in establishing the city’s 10 parks, and her
financial supporters included 35 separate civic organizations. Because of her work, Sunshine Park was renamed