In the early twentieth century, Nueces County was a major cotton-producing district of Texas, and many migrant workers came through towns such as Robstown for work on cotton and vegetable farms. Robstown Labor Camp was completed in 1940 as one of nine migrant labor camps built across Texas to provide housing and other resources for migrant workers through President Franklin Roosevelt’s Farm Security Administration. During World War II, the camp was overseen by the Department of Agriculture and the War Food Administration to meet wartime labor needs, and in 1948 it transitioned to county operation. It continued in use as a labor camp until 1968, and at various times its facilities offered community activities, medical resources, and educational services including job training and a school for children. In the 1960s, President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty efforts brought the Volunteers in Service to America organization into Robstown to provide relief and support, with workers residing at the camp. By the end of that decade, the camp closed after years of declining conditions. When Hurricane Celia struck in 1970, the camp housed displaced Robstown residents. During this period it also became a site of local civil rights activism. In the 1970s, the American G.I. Forum leased part of the property and built low-income housing there. Through the efforts of some of the area’s first Hispanic elected officials, part of the camp land became a public park by 1978, and the park was expanded in 2002. Over the years, the site served many purposes and residents, and its resources and programs affected thousands of people.