Site of Confederate Park
Lakeside, Tarrant County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Local businessman Khleber M. Van Zandt organized the Robert E. Lee camp of the United Confederate Veterans in 1889. By 1900 it boasted more than 700 members. The camp received a 25-year charter to create the Confederate Park Association in 1901, then purchased 373 acres near this site for the "recreation, refuge and relief of Confederate soldiers" and their families. Opening events included a picnic for veterans and families on June 20, 1902, and a statewide reunion September 8-12, 1903, with 3,500 attendees. The park thrived as a center for the civic and social activities of Texas Confederate organizations. By 1924 the numbers of surviving veterans had greatly diminished, and the Confederate Park Association voluntarily dissolved when its charter expired in 1926. (2000)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As Civil War veterans aged into the twentieth century, communities across the South built spaces to honor and care for them. Fort Worth businessman Khleber Van Zandt organized a large United Confederate Veterans camp in 1889, and by 1901 it had chartered a 373-acre park for the "recreation, refuge and relief" of old soldiers and their families. The grounds hosted picnics and statewide reunions for two decades before the dwindling ranks of survivors led the association to dissolve in the 1920s.
Why it matters
The park reflects the Lost Cause commemorative culture that shaped Southern civic life for generations after the Civil War, when veterans' reunions were major public events.
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Related people
- · Khleber M. Van Zandt
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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