John R. ("Sarge") Nasworthy

Lake Nasworthy was built by the West Texas Utilities Company in 1929 and 1930 to supply San Angelo with municipal, industrial and irrigation water, the Handbook of Texas says. It was named for John R. Nasworthy, who raised race horses on the land before it was flooded. The earthfill dam, designed by Floyd and Lockridge of Dallas, has a crest 5,480 feet long, and the lake covers 1,596 acres with a normal capacity of 13,990 acre-feet. Twin Buttes Reservoir, completed in 1963, regulates the flow into it, and Farm Road 584 crosses the lake near a state fish hatchery.

What the plaque says

Colorful pioneer and Texas ranger who helped to create civilization and institutions of West Texas. Owned ranch land on which today is situated Lake Nasworthy -- first conservation lake in this area. Born in Georgia. Served 1864-1865 in Confederate army, during Civil War. Later came to Texas, living first at Bonham. After he moved west, he operated in Menard area as a buyer of beef cattle for United States army mess halls at Fort Concho. In 1880s he was deputy county clerk and deputy sheriff of Tom Green County and the first treasurer of the city of San Angelo. He owned the first local brick kiln, a wagon yard, a livery stable, and the only hearse in town in the early days. He was second man to fence land, second man to grow cotton in the county. A county commissioner, 1910-1916, he promoted building of the old Chadbourne viaduct. A leader in church and philanthropic endeavors, he was a promoter of the Baptist encampment at Christoval (then one of the largest religious gatherings in the south). He married Dena Von Fisher. The family had homes on Beauregard Street, Knickerbocker Road, Ben Ficklin Road and at Nasworthy Lake site. His six children carry on family tradition of community leadership. (1970)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• San Angelo State Park — 5.3 mi
  A 7,677-acre park around O.C. Fisher Reservoir on the edge of San Angelo, where four Texas landscapes meet and the state's official longhorn herd grazes beside a bison paddock.
• Concho River Walk — 5.5 mi
  Four miles of lit trails along the North Concho through downtown San Angelo, rebuilt after voters taxed themselves in 2004, with gardens, sculpture, a river stage and stocked trout.
• Fort Concho National Historic Landmark — 5.8 mi
  The stone post at the forks of the Concho, headquarters of the Tenth Cavalry from 1875 to 1882, saved by a woman with a museum and now a city-run landmark of 23 original buildings.
• San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts — 5.9 mi
  A free art museum on the Concho beside Fort Concho, founded in the fort's 1868 quartermaster building and known nationally for its biennial ceramics competition.

More markers nearby

• Site of Ben Ficklin — 3.2 mi
• Major Ben Ficklin, C.S.A. — 3.3 mi
• Tom Green County — 3.3 mi
• John Ingram — 4.5 mi