Indiana's state park system grew from early twentieth-century alarm over the nation's disappearing natural landscape and from Richard Lieber's campaign to create parks as the state's 1916 centennial gift. Although land for Turkey Run was first lost at auction to a higher bidder, McCormick's Creek was purchased in time for the centennial celebration, and within the year Lieber's group also purchased Turkey Run. By 1932, ten parks dotted the state. Inns housed early visitors, who often stayed for more than a week, and gatehouses reflected Indiana State Parks' early leadership in using a user-pays model to support operating costs. From near the beginning, nature guides interpreted the parks' natural and cultural stories. During the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps employed jobless young men to build park buildings, trails, and infrastructure. After World War II, veterans' education, work, family life, and higher incomes increased travel and demand for parks. Beginning in the 1950s, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers dams created reservoir lands managed for camping, hunting, and fishing by the Division of Reservoir Management, which later merged with State Parks. In the 1960s, growing environmental awareness led State Parks to adopt practices to conserve and maintain valuable ecosystems, and the system continued into its second century as a leader in conservation and management.