During the Great Depression, displaced Midwesterners came to Weslaco and established Hooverville shantytowns. Hoping to improve poor living conditions, the Weslaco Lions Club worked in 1934 to establish a park. William Henry Hoge and J.J. Gibson, for whom the park was named, donated acreage. Weslaco's first municipal trailer park opened in 1936 as a tourist destination for campers and for those living in trailers. It closed as a trailer camp in 1946 and later developed into a neighborhood park. Weslaco's ecotourism industry also developed as the city opened the Valley Nature Center on the park's eastern portion. Recreationally and commercially, Gibson Park remains a vital landmark in Weslaco.