
Texas Trailblazers
‘Ma’ Brought in the CCC
Many Texans know Miriam A. “Ma” Ferguson as the first woman governor of Texas. She was elected a few years after her husband, Gov. Jim “Pa” Ferguson, was impeached and disqualified from office in 1917 for fraud and misuse of state funds.
Her two terms as governor did not exactly redeem the family’s reputation. Running unabashedly to represent her husband, she promised “two governors for the price of one.” Upon taking office, she continued his practices of rewarding friends and punishing foes through the power of the governor’s office. She was accused of selling pardons and accepting kickbacks for highway contracts.
But there was another side to “Ma” — one that surfaced at just the right time for Texas State Parks.
After Gov. Pat Neff worked to establish the Texas State Parks Board in 1923, the state park system struggled to build new parks in its early days before the Great Depression.
The opportunity for state park growth came with the arrival of federal relief funds in the 1930s. At first, distrust between Ferguson and the Legislature produced inaction. After receiving a warning about possible missed funding from the federal Reconstruction Finance Corporation (RFC), Ferguson acted decisively. She got emergency legislation passed to create the Texas Rehabilitation and Relief Commission, which coordinated the state’s efforts with President Roosevelt’s relief plans.
After Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps, Ferguson quickly requested federal funding for dozens of CCC projects, which led to work camps across the state to build state parks. Ferguson sent the head of the Texas relief commission to Washington to work with the RFC just as it was about to shift funds from Texas to other states. She also shrewdly appointed former Gov. Neff to fill a vacancy on the State Parks Board and was the first governor to include state park funding in the annual budget.
Within a few years, Texas CCC companies built dozens of new parks, dramatically expanding the state park system and creating a treasured legacy enjoyed by millions today. While Neff oversaw the creation of the State Parks Board, it was Ferguson who oversaw its first influx of parks and funding.
Ferguson may not have been free of the corruption that stained her husband’s administration, but her actions revealed strong leadership that made all the difference for state parks.
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