After World War II, a population boom and new roads and subdivisions reshaped Mesquite, whose population was then about 1,600. In 1947, the city's first park was developed when local bank president N.E. Shands, together with Anson Holley and Raymond Holley, donated 12.5 acres for a recreational and gathering place near downtown. Plans included a six-acre lake, a community building, picnic areas, and a swimming pool, and Dallas County provided labor and equipment to excavate the lake basin. In October 1947, Mesquite appointed its first park board to oversee the project. Mayor Sam Rutherford moved a surplus building from Camp Maxey near Paris, Texas, for the community building, and citizens donated plumbing, electrical, and other work to prepare it for use. That building later became the Lakeside Activity Center, a popular city rental facility. The lake offered recreation and flood control for nearby neighborhoods, and the pool was upgraded over the years into the city's only aquatics center. Mesquite Cemetery, dating from 1878, adjoins the park. In the decades after the park's establishment, additional amenities such as a baseball field and playgrounds grew along with the city. Seventy years after City Lake Park was created, the City of Mesquite Parks System included 76 sites with athletic fields, picnic areas, and trail connections, and City Lake Park remained a well-used and well-loved place in the center of the community.