Put Garner State Park in Texas on your bucket list

Floating down the crystal-clear Frio River is one of the premier attractions at Garner State Park in Uvalde County, Texas.

 

Located in the Texas Hill Country River Region, this is one of the most-visited state parks in the Lone Star State. Rated as “the most popular park in the system for overnight camping,” Garner State Park offers screened shelters, cabins and campsites for vehicles. 

These are perfect accommodations for travelers who may be attending the two solar eclipses in the skies over Uvalde County – on Oct. 14, 2023, and on April 8, 2024. Uvalde is uniquely located in the black-out paths for both eclipse events. 

Garner State Park has an interesting history. During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt created the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) to provide jobs for young men under age 25 who were out of work. 

Citizens of Uvalde County scraped together enough money to acquire land and enlist the CCC to build a park in 1935. It was named after John Nance “Cactus Jack” Garner, who was U.S. vice president during the first two Roosevelt terms from 1933-41.

 

Cactus Jack called Uvalde County home. He came to Uvalde in 1890 as a young lawyer. Shortly thereafter, Garner was appointed to fill a vacancy as county judge. In the regular election in 1893, he defeated Mariette “Ettie” Rheiner. They were married in 1895.

Judge Garner was elected to the Texas state legislature in 1898. He ran successfully for a newly created Congressional seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1903 and served continuously for 15 terms. 

Rep. Garner was recognized as a “quiet leader,” and during World War I, he became the liaison between President Woodrow Wilson and Congress. In 1931, Rep. Garner was selected as Speaker of the House. 

With the backing of California newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, Garner, at age 63, became a candidate for president in 1932. At the Democrats’ national convention in Chicago, Garner had a lock on 90 votes from Texas and California on the first ballot.

 

William Randolph Hearst

New York Gov. Franklin Roosevelt, 50, was the front-runner with 666 votes, while former New York Gov. Al Smith, 58, received 202. Eight other candidates divided 196 votes. 

Roosevelt needed 770 votes to win the nomination. He edged closer to the “magic number” on both the second and third ballots. 

On the fourth ballot, Garner essentially gave his votes to Gov. Roosevelt, assuring him the nomination. As a result, Garner was offered the position of vice president, and he reluctantly accepted. 

In the 1932 general election, the Democrats’ ticket of Roosevelt-Nance steamrolled the incumbent Republicans, Herbert Hoover and Charles Curtis.

 

What new Vice President Garner brought to the table in 1933 was 30 years of Washington, D.C., political experience. “Moreover, he was talented in other areas tangential to politics, such as whiskey drinking and poker playing,” said Lionel V. Patenaude of the Texas State Historical Society. 

“Garner was a personal friend of virtually every member of Congress. He was able to push bills through or bury them. One writer stated that Garner was ‘a mole rather than an eagle.’ A master at circulating on the Senate floor or buttonholing a friend, he was the ‘wise old man of Congress.’” 

“On most evenings after a legislative session, Garner would hold court over bourbon and branch water and counsel reluctant Congressmen,” Patenaude said. “He was in his element here, and most of his contemporaries agreed that his persuasive tactics made Garner the most powerful vice president in history.”