Forest Park

The 1922 shopmen's strike is the park's hard chapter. The national union called the walkout on July 1, and Governor Pat Neff declared martial law in Denison on July 26, according to local historian Robin Cole-Jett; the Guard's camp at Forest Park was named Camp Ellis. Cole-Jett finds no serious violence between the sides in Denison. The Katy brought in fifty Black replacement workers, who lived on the shop grounds under railroad police and Rangers. After Labor Day a federal injunction made even union meetings illegal, and wages kept falling.

What the plaque says

Forest Park The city of Denison's first public park was established in 1872. The town was founded in that same year as a terminus for the Missouri, Kansas, and Texas (KAYT) Railroad and began as a melting pot for many different cultures. Originally conceived by Robert S. Stevens and the Denison Town Company, the park began with Stevens' donation of six acres of land and the stipulation that the city solely use the land as a park and continue to preserve it. The city's first official public gathering happened in 1873 when the city celebrated its first anniversary with a barbecue in the park. Forest Park was given its official name in 1875, due to the dense amounts of forested woods that covered the park grounds at the time. In 1922, a nationwide strike of shop-union employees against the KATY railroad made its way to Denison. As much violence ensued, Governor Pat Neff sent the Texas National Guard to help keep order among nearly 1,400 KATY railroad workers. In the park, the 142nd infantry regiment erected a large tent city called Camp Ellis; Camp Leeper was built to the west near the KATY car shops. Almost 300 civilian arrests were made from August 10 through October 21, 1922. The park has seen many improvements and additions over the years which include: tennis courts and a clubhouse, a skate park, playground with splash pad, cast iron fountain, and a restored bandstand. The original Munson Stadium was built in 1938 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) and replaced by a 2014 stadium complex. Forest Park has been a source of pride and recreation in the heart of Denison for its citizens. Today, the park still serves as Denison's premier downtown park while continuing to maintain its historic charm. (2017)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Eisenhower Birthplace State Historic Site — 0.5 mi
  The small frame house beside the Katy tracks in Denison where Dwight Eisenhower was born in 1890, bought by townspeople in 1946 and given to Texas in 1958.
• Eisenhower State Park — 5.2 mi
  A bluff-top park on Lake Texoma opened in 1958 on land leased from the Corps of Engineers, in the Red River country of Fort Johnson, Colbert's Ferry and the Butterfield stages.
• Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge — 12 mi
  A 1946 refuge on the Big Mineral Arm of Lake Texoma, laid over land bought for Denison Dam and the site of the vanished railroad town of Hagerman, now a winter stop for geese.
• Choctaw Cultural Center — 16 mi
  The Choctaw Nation's history told from the Chahta side at Calera, with galleries from Nanih Waiya to the Trail of Tears and the reservation today, a living village and daily stickball.

More markers nearby

• First Presbyterian Church — 0.3 mi
• Present Home of XXI Club — 0.3 mi
• Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad — 0.4 mi
• Waples-Platter Grocery Company — 0.4 mi