Fort Parker State Park, a 1,458.8-acre Texas state park near Mexia on Lake Fort Parker and the Navasota River, was established in 1935 after land donations from the city and local owners. Between 1935 and 1942, Civilian Conservation Corps Company 3807 built much of the park’s roads, recreation facilities, and the dam that created the lake, and the park opened in May 1941. Named for nearby Fort Parker, it also preserves the Old Springfield Cemetery, the last visible remnant of a once-thriving county-seat community that vanished after the Civil War and later decline. Today it is known for water recreation, trails, birdlife, and diverse East and Central Texas wildlife.